Revenge of the Titans 1
by Tenkai Nankobo 101
Summary: I OWN NOTHING! Return with Percy Jackson and his friends to Camp Half-Blood as they investigate the rumors of a demigod son of a very powerful Titan who could return the remaining Titans to power with or without Kronos! Rated for action, and other content
1. Title Page

Revenge of the Titans

The Son of an Old Enemy

By

Christopher Cleveland


	2. Percy: A disturbance in my summer

Percy:

A disturbance in my summer

Hi, my name is Percy Jackson and I'm a son of Poseidon, Olympian god of the Seas. I am also a leading member of the coolest summer camp on the face of the Earth: Camp Half-Blood. We have recently been going under some customization to the Camp but it's the same old Camp Half-Blood for the most part. What kind of customization might you be asking?

Well, a few weeks ago, me and my fellow demigod campers defeated the Titan king Kronos as well as some other Titans who were trying to destroy Olympus. Kronos' evil plan was to distract the gods with the monster Typhon while he destroyed their home. I rallied up all the Campers I could find and defended Olympus with every breath in my body. I even defeated Kronos almost entirely in single-hand combat when he possessed a traitor named Luke.

Ultimately though, Luke turned the blade on himself and destroyed Kronos before he could regain his full strength. Despite his betrayal, Luke was deeply missed by many of the campers even my girlfriend Annabeth of the Athena Cabin (Luke was Hermes' son). At the end of the war though, I noticed that demigods sided with the Titans because demigods were not recognized by their parents soon enough and felt abandoned. Therefore, I turned down immortality offered to me by the gods and instead asked that every demigod child of every god, minor or major, be recognized by their twelfth birthday.

So far, the gods have agreed to their word and seen to it that all the demigods we have are recognized immediately and not crammed into the Hermes cabin because they weren't claimed. But one day, out of the blue, I'm called just after my day has ended to the Big Cabin where our director Chiron dwelled. Chiron looked white as a sheet when he and I initiated the conversation that I wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon. "Percy, you know how Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades have all had demigods right?" he asked.

I nodded, not quite getting at what he was saying but I allowed him to explain. "And you also remember me saying that Kronos was my father correct?" he asked, still frightened. Again I nodded and allowed him to explain what he meant if he wanted to. "Well, it appears as though… my father has produced a demigod son who survived the destruction of Mount Orthys and that's just assuming he was there when Kronos attacked us," Chiron explained.

"If Annabeth were here to hear this, she'd be cursing in Ancient Greek like crazy," I thought aloud. "She already knows and you're right, she _did _go crazy on cursing in Ancient Greek," Chiron replied. I smiled, not a smile to say it was funny as this was a serious matter, but because Annabeth was somewhat predictable now that I had gotten to know her better. Now I said somewhat because she can still go bananas and I would not know when, why, or how.

"Have you taken any action against this demigod yet?" I asked. If I knew Chiron well enough, he would have already done something to bring this demigod to camp, if possible. "I've sent Thalia and the Hunters of Artemis to track him down and I've also asked Nico to use the powers of the Underworld to help them," Chiron answered with a nod. "However, Chiron would like you as backup in the event that Thalia, the Hunter and Nico fail to bring him down," Mr. D said.

"Dionysus, do not trouble this child's head with comments like that. He did save Olympus as well as Camp Half-Blood just a few weeks ago," Chiron sneered. "So what if he did, he's still under our authority since he refused immortality from Zeus himself," Mr. D replied. "Will you both save your arguments until _after _I have left the room please?" I asked, knowing how well these arguments usually ended.

"Percy, just know that though what Mr. D says is true I personally hope it doesn't come to that. You did well enough three weeks ago when you defeated Kronos, it's time for someone else to gain some glory," Chiron said. I understood what he meant, hey it's not every day you get to slay the ruler of the Titans. Truthfully, I hoped Thalia or Nico caught this son of Kronos and brought him to camp thus obtaining their share.

I went to my Cabin while Mr. D and Chiron resumed their arguing, tired and beat from the day's work of working with the Aphrodite boys since they were lazy. Plus there was the Hypnos cabin to be concerned with as well. I had Briares take over for me when I was called to Chiron's headquarters and asked if he could take over the next few shifts with Hypnos. All in all, it was a very enlightening day considering that now I knew that Titans could have demigod children just like my father and the other Olympians.

The thought of Kronos having a demigod child after already trying to kill his six godly children and having Chiron made me shudder. Not that I didn't like Chiron because of who his Dad was but there was also the fact that Kronos had banished his own father from the throne of the universe at the beckoning of his mother. And Gaea didn't exactly come across to me as a very good mother either thanks to the existence of Kronos and the Titans. Simply stated, Kronos disgusted me overall and I had sworn to myself that he and the Titans would pay for what they did to all of us demigods three weeks ago.

Since they had paid like I hoped they did, I rested knowing that the Titans were scattered at the moment. But this demigod unsettled me because what if the Titans used him as a banner under which to rally? What if _he _became the next King of the Titans and led the remnants against us? Just thinking of that made me remember how twisted and evil Kronos had shown him to be when I faced him on Mount Olympus and on his ship, the _Princess Andromeda_.

Thanks to the defeat of the Titans, my dreams had become better but this one was truly a nightmare in its own right. I was in the middle of a forest not too far from the state of New York. Maybe it was Pennsylvania or some place like that but anyway, I saw this man dressed from head to toe in gold except for a horizontal crest on the top of his helmet and a red, flowing cape. He had a bag which contained something that had my curiosity for a little while but stopped after I noticed his eyes shining gold like Kronos' at me.

The man in golden armor then came at me and would have apparently grabbed me if I had not awakened. _Thank you Morpheus for that dream, I really needed it _I thought to myself. But that didn't really stop me from reporting what I had seen to Chiron as soon as I could. It was still daylight so I wouldn't be in trouble for leaving my Cabin nor would I be in trouble for visiting anyone else's.

So I decided that if it was still daylight when I was done talking with Chiron, I would go pay a visit to my girlfriend Annabeth of the Athena cabin. Chiron had just finished arguing with Mr. D again and I asked if I may have a moment in private. "I always have a moment for one of my students, what can I do for you Percy?" he asked. "Can you tell Nico and Thalia to look for a man dressed from head to toe in golden armor with a golden shine to his eyes, a horizontal crest colored red across his helmet, and an equally red cape?" I asked, seeing no other way to word my question.

"I presume you had a dream about the son of Kronos and that's what it showed you?" Chiron answered. I nodded and said that Thalia would have to be careful about dealing with him. When asked to clarify, I had him promise to tell her that it would be best to have none of Artemis' Hunters attack if they could help it. "After all, it could give him enough reason to kill them all if they attacked first," I explained.

"Very well, I shall notify Nico and Thalia immediately. Nico could use a hint like that since he's having trouble pinpointing the aura of this demigod. We do have enough demigods around to hide his if he was clever enough about it," Chiron said. I thanked him for his help in delivering my message to Thalia and went out of the Big Cabin to go see my girlfriend.

To my surprise as well as my delight, Annabeth was not hyped on the laptop she had been given by the Athenian architect Daedalus. "Hey Percy, how are you today?" she asked, knowing I was probably tired. "You know how I am when you look at me," I replied and that was true. "Did Chiron tell you about the new possible threat that may be headed our way?" she asked, to which I nodded.

"To even think that the Titan would have children by a mortal woman is just a mind-blowing thing to know," she stated. I agreed and told her that Thalia and the Hunters of Artemis had been sent to track him down. "My only hope is that he is nowhere near as powerful as his father. Otherwise, we're in big trouble if he finds out about Camp Half-Blood (if he doesn't already know) and decides to pay a visit," she said.

I knew that was for sure and even asked her if she had heard of a demigod son of a Titan before. "Well, aside from Prometheus' son Deucalion and his wife I have not heard of a single one," Annabeth answered. Now, I knew I could trust Annabeth to be correct on that answer because (in my opinion) there was nothing about the legends of our parents and their previous children that she didn't know. The Athena kids were, after all, the brightest and the most intelligent amongst all the other campers.

They knew how to form battle plans when no one else could and also knew how to inspire the other campers to carry them out effectively. To me, that would be a double-win on the part of the Athena campers in almost any situation. But now that she mentioned to Deucalion, I had to ask who he was. "With the aid of his father Prometheus, Deucalion was the second creator of mankind.

"After the first war against the Titans, the gods realized they had no one to worship them since the humans created before the war had been wiped from clean from the face of the Earth. So Zeus commissioned Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus to create an entire population of all the creatures we know from scratch. Prometheus knew precisely what Zeus needed for worshippers but could not perfect his design when he realized that Epimetheus had squandered all the gifts intended for Zeus' worshippers. All of them, except a heart for the creature and soon, man was born again in spite of the imperfections Epimetheus left them with and the fact that they were made from clay," Annabeth began.

Now keep in mind that though my attention span is very limited, Annabeth always knew how to make it unlimited at least temporarily whenever she spoke. I let her continue because it looked like she had more to say. "Mankind as Prometheus saw it suffered because they had nothing to protect them against the dangerous animals of the night nor something that could keep them warm at night or help them see in the dark.

"At that time, the only thing that could do all three was fire and Zeus strictly forbid the gods from giving fire to mankind. But seeing the wisdom in this potential race of worshippers, Athena gave Prometheus her helmet of invisibility and let him steal some fire from Olympus. He brought it down to man and at first, Zeus was furious when he smelled smoke coming from the fires below Olympus. But mankind was saved from his wrath when they started cooking meat on the flames and the smell of cooked meat reached the noses of the gods.

"But then Prometheus taught mankind how to cheat the gods by using two different piles of meat and bone, telling Zeus to pick one. Because Zeus thought that the better it looked the better it tasted, he chose a pile that was not very good and was infuriated when it was lit as a sacrifice. This was because Zeus let mankind keep fire in exchange for sacrificing the best of everything they had and Prometheus taught them how to keep the best for themselves. Thus, Prometheus was punished to have the eagle eat out his liver every day and heal at night as he may have mentioned when we met him; it's also how the whole business with Pandora's Box began," Annabeth finished with that.

Just in time too since my attention span had just about ended and I barely remembered any of the details she had given. "So Prometheus wasn't punished because he gave mankind fire, he was punished because he taught them how to cheat the gods," I said and it wasn't a question. "Yes but he likes to say he was punished for bringing the fire to increase sympathy on his part. That's how he managed to persuade so many demigods to join the Titans three weeks ago," Annabeth said.

"Well I hope Thalia and Nico find him soon. I'd like to rest knowing that there is no immediate threat to our existence from this demigod," I stated. Annabeth concurred then told me to come over to her bed and lay down with her. I accepted since I could barely keep my head up anyway and she always loved it when I was right next to her.

She held my head to her chest and I wrapped my arms across her as we lied down on the bed she usually had to herself for at least half an hour. Hey, we were both tired from our jobs as supervisors of the construction of the cabins and we needed some time to be together. Anyway, I was woken up by Annabeth's half-brother Malcolm and was told that it would soon be nighttime. I knew I had to walk back to the Poseidon Cabin so I gently pulled my arms from behind Annabeth and gently pulled myself out of hers so as not to disturb her sleep.

On my way out, I thanked Malcolm for giving me the heads-up and he nodded in reply. I returned to the Poseidon Cabin and lied down on the bed I typically slept in and that was a bed next to the fountain in my cabin. Hey, I'm a son of Poseidon, I need water to regenerate even if I don't always regenerate by drinking any water. I had no dreams that night but I did have a lot of thoughts including the possible fulfillment of the new Great Prophecy made at the end of the Second Titan War three weeks ago.

Could this be the son of lightning or the giant mentioned? One had to wonder about all the different possibilities and one had to hope that Thalia and Nico would be all right. But especially Thalia since she was a daughter of Zeus and we'd hate to lose that to a son of Kronos fighting against us. Hey, when she's here, she's the most powerful demigod we have; what else can I say besides that?


	3. Thalia: The first hunt and the quarry

Thalia:

The first hunt and the quarry

Hi, my name is Thalia and I am a demigod daughter of Zeus the ruler of Olympus and the current Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. Today, my quarry is an interesting case because like Chiron, Poseidon, and Hades, he's my uncle through the Titan Kronos. But he is barely any older than I am (I'm sixteen and he's been somehow revealed to be seventeen going on eighteen) and perhaps a bit more rash. Thanks to my cousin Nico (son of Hades), I was able to track him and find out his age and physical characteristics but it was thanks to Chiron that I knew his godly connection.

We have been on his trail since Chiron first heard about the demigod son of Kronos two weeks ago but we didn't find anything. Then my cousin (by Poseidon) Percy told us of a dream he had where he saw a man in golden armor with the same golden flash in his eyes as Kronos. We knew we had our objective when Nico confirmed it by using his powers to seek out the demigod from below the ground. We tracked him down to a part of a mountain range we had never seen before: the La Sal Mountains near Moab, Utah.

The mountain we tracked him to was called Haystack according to the locals and seemed more like a pile of rocks than a mountain. As for its height, well, let's just say I was not eager to try and scale this mountain. _Do not walk in a straight line up the mountain, zigzag it until you're at the actual top rather than the false top you'll see _a voice whispered to me. For some reason, I usually took this voice's advice even though it usually defied my good sense but this time it didn't.

Tell you the truth, this is where I think I should have gone to the Rockies more often. Scaling this mountain was not only difficult but frightening as well since I was comparatively uncoordinated and everyone around me was moderately skilled if not way better than me. By the time I reached the false top, I knew I wanted to turn back but at the same time I knew I had to keep going. According to one of my subordinates, I could get a good view of my target by following his aura from the summit of Mount Haystack if I made it.

The truth was that that subordinate named Katherine was right about that. I did get a good view and even located the son of Kronos in an area at town level called Ken's Lake. Using the powers of my father and bringing my hunters with me, I flew down to the lake and ordered my hunters to divide into groups and search for our target. Since there were twenty-six of us, I ordered my group to divide into two groups of thirteen and encircle the demigod from all angles.

I made sure that my Hunters had all of their bows ready to shoot just in case but had a good talk with the more impulsive ones before I led them to action. We arrived at a camping spot where the aura was strongest and closed in on our man in golden armor. Let me tell you, I wasn't feeling love at first sight when I saw this man but I came under severe temptation to order my hunters to stand down. All of that for the sake of knowing the name of the man who stirred these feelings within me.

But I had to mentally slap those out since I was a Hunter of Artemis and I could not be allowed to fall in love with another man. Least of all, my own prey too and that would have been dangerous. But Phoebe, my second, was the first to make a move and asked if the man was the son of Kronos that we were looking for. "About time you losers found me, I was beginning to wonder if I would be having Artemis on my toes too," the man bluntly replied.

"Phoebe, back down; I am Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. You _knew _we were coming and that we were on the search for you?" I asked, inquisitive to know my target a bit better. "Well I'm Gabriel A. Johnson, son of Kronos and servant of who I call the 'Special Five'. By the way I did know you were coming and I knew you had been searching for me almost from the moment you started," he said, something that surprised me.

"First, who are the 'Special Five' and secondly, how were you informed of our coming?" I inquired. As a hunter of Artemis it was my job to know my quarry as best as possible and being a daughter of Zeus, there was no way this man would lie to me. Unless he could very easily have done so and chose not to or chose to lie and was hiding all the signs of deception very well. "That I cannot tell you with twenty bows armed and ready to shoot their arrows at me, back down and _maybe _I will reveal who they are," Gabriel answered.

Phoebe said nothing but released her arrow, hitting the shoulder plate of Gabriel's golden armor. To my surprise and the regret of Phoebe, the arrow literally bounced off the demigod's armor! "Do that again Hunter of Artemis and everyone here, including you and your lieutenant, shall suffer my personal wrath," Gabriel hissed. In spite of my attempts to stop my Hunters from doing so, one of them fired another arrow that hit the upper thigh piece of his armor.

Quicker than the fastest striking snake, Gabriel drew out two Grecian short swords and immediately cut down ten of the Hunters who happened to be behind him. As for the rest of us, we charged all at once and even I knew we were all committed to bringing down this demigod if it was the last thing we did. Eventually we worked him into a tight spot but then he surprised us with something I had never seen before. With at least half the speed of light, he twirled the blades all over his body at all different directions and hacked three of my Hunters down before we could do anything.

Then I summoned a lightning bolt from the heavens to destroy this demigod immediately. However, the bolt was only good for putting a hole in the ground when I saw the son of Kronos dodge the lightning bolt quicker than it could have hit him. He flew so far and turned around gracefully to place his feet on the trunk of a tree. Then just as gracefully and quickly, he bounced off the tree and created a gust of wind so strong that eight more of my Hunters were swept to different directions.

Dust higher than seven or nine feet blocked our view temporarily but when it distorted, I saw him bring down another Hunter. That left only four out of the original twenty-six that had come to fight him remaining. Not only that, but it had also been done in barely four minutes although it felt longer to me and everyone else. Apparently, this demigod did not have his father's ability to control time but that had me wonder what his powers were like.

For a moment, Gabriel sheathed his swords and grabbed two of my Hunters. Then he bashed their heads together and threw them aside, leaving just me and Phoebe. He unsheathed his swords as quickly as he had unsheathed them and sheathed them the first time before we were even in striking distance. He deflected most of our attacks but caught us off guard again when he twirled his blades across his body with at least half the speed of light.

Just as quickly, I was kicked into the abdomen and sent flying several yards across the campgrounds of the Lake until I was wedged into the dumpster. Literally, the momentum of my flight would have killed any ordinary mortal but just cause serious injury to me when I hit the dumpster hard enough to almost bend it in half. By the time I had pulled myself out from the squeeze, Gabriel had already dealt with Phoebe and avenged the offense she had committed to him. If he wasn't satisfied I wouldn't know what would considering that Phoebe had been thrown right into the wall of a campground bathroom and that was partly cement.

Gabriel turned his attention back to me knowing that I would squeeze myself out of that bent dumpster. His swords immediately turned in my direction and boy was it hard deflecting and dodging all of his strokes. He moved with the speed of a god and the ferocity of a Minotaur; his skills as a warrior catching totally off guard. When we finally crossed blades and held them in position for longer than a few seconds, we had a conversation I'll never forget.

"What do you want, to destroy Olympus or my father?" I asked. "No, I don't want Olympus and I most definitely do not want to challenge your father's rule. For goodness sake, I'm a servant of four Olympian goddesses and one god," he answered. That stopped me in my tracks and made me wonder if this was his 'Special Five' that had been speaking of earlier.

"If you don't want Olympus then what do you want?" I asked, hoping I'd get some answers. "You're attacking a servant of Olympus why should that be any concern to you?" he replied. Now I had to admit that he was right about what his reply to my question. And that made me wonder even more things than I had already begun to wonder about.

First off, who were the 'Special Five' that he served? Second, how did he come to the service of the Olympians? Third, what _did _he want if it was not to destroy Olympus or rule the world? Last, why _was _I fighting him if he wasn't even my enemy in the first place?

As I was thinking about all these things, I was suddenly pushed to the ground by a lunge on his end. My sword flew right out of my hand and landed in the soil between two boulders of equal size. "Don't make me go around and finish off all of your comrades Thalia, I'm in no mood for taking the lives of any demigods today," Gabriel said. "You mean you've killed demigods before?" I asked.

"Not many and mainly out of self-defense whenever I've been attacked. I was most particularly in need of killing demigods when I was escaping Mount Orthys," Gabriel answered. "You had to escape from Mount Orthys, why?" I asked. "When I was on a diplomatic mission for the Special Five, Kronos captured me.

"Since Kronos was my father, I felt his dark aura scatter when Luke Castellan killed himself to destroy the Titan. I knew it was only a matter of time before Mount Orthys fell so I made my escape while I could," Gabriel explained. "Well if you had to escape the Titans and you're not an enemy of Olympus, then what purpose to you have?" I asked him.

"If you really must know I seek revenge against a particular Titan for the destruction of my mortal family. Every single one of my family members had been killed by this Titan; now I only live to see my father's kind suffer unless they are under the protection of Olympus," Gabriel explained. "Let me get my sword so I can put it away, please," I requested. Although I was a daughter of Zeus and seldom afraid of anything, the way he looked at me sent a slight chill down my spine.

Not because he looked at me with the intent to kill me but because his eyes confirmed everything he had said to me. That and the fact that a warm feeling toward him was stirring in me. I was not sure if it was love or sadness for his loss, maybe it might have even been pity for him. At any rate, something brewed in me that I had not even felt with Luke before he betrayed Camp Half-Blood and before I was transformed into a pine tree.

I slowly grabbed my sword and moved it to my scabbard to assure him that I was not up to anything bad. Then I did something that I would never be sure of and I don't even know why I did it. I fell to my knees and offered myself to him as his servant for everything he would need me for. "I don't need a slave, I'm already a servant myself to the gods of Olympus," he replied.

At first, I meant to protest but he stopped me by saying that my Hunters were all alive. As proof, many of them began stirring from where they had lied unconscious just a few minutes ago. They were all in pain as a result of their injuries, some couldn't even get up without aid. My eyes had to be deceiving me at this point; there was no way in all the heavens that my Hunters could have indeed survived the blows they sustained from Gabriel.

"I was using about four percent of my power at very most so imagine what would have happened if I had gone halfway," Gabriel said. Then he asked for name of the Hunter who struck him first. "She's the last one you defeated before you fought me and her name is Phoebe," I answered. He looked at the wall of the bathroom he had sent her into and saw not only a huge hole in the wall but that she had also landed near perfectly on the toilet in a sitting position.

If Gabriel was not surprised at the damage, he was certainly surprised when he saw her sitting almost perfectly on the toilet. "My god, that's almost like something out of a cartoon," he said. I just had to release a giggle since I knew exactly what he was talking about. Besides, who couldn't look Phoebe without practically having a heart attack from laughter?

I was the only one who even gave that positive reaction since everyone else was too injured to notice anything besides their pain. "Will you come with us quietly to Camp Half-Blood? I'll make up what I've done to you and that's something you can count on," I begged. There was no way I was going to leave this campground without having at least obtained the demigod.

"If I go there, I go my own way because at the moment I am delivering something important to one of the members of the Special Five. I just hope no one got to the bag I had during the fight and gotten to the contents of it," Gabriel answered. He looked relieved when he found the sack, which was reddish-brown and had a long shoulder strap. But before he could go, he and I both sensed a tremble in the ground but only I knew what that meant.

I knew what that meant but he didn't so he mistook it for me trying to kill him. I had never been so frightened in my life and hoped that my death was merciful.


	4. Nico: Returning to Camp HalfBlood

Nico:

Returning to Camp Half-Blood and my first Council meeting in a while

That's right baby! I arrived with some heavy-duty cannons dating back to the Civil War as well as some undead soldiers to wield them. We arrived just in time as it seemed to me like Thalia was going to be killed by the demigod son of Kronos. I couldn't let that happen so I ordered the first rounds to go off and destroy him.

But quicker than the cannonballs, he dodged them and they just whistled harmlessly by. Since they were fired by undead soldiers and were the equipment of the Underworld, they were absorbed into the ground and did no damage to the surrounding environment. Then I ordered the Gatling guns brought in and I made sure that every last bullet the soldiers had in their present supply was fired. To my eternal amazement, they all missed; thousands if not millions of bullets failing to hit one obvious target.

"He's too quick for guns, I should know I tried to fight him with twenty-five Hunters just before you came in," Thalia said to me. "Then I will have to bring in a weapon that specializes in both range and in seldom missing it's target. Bring in a turret from the WWII carrier we have back in Hades. "Even if it doesn't miss, how do you know he won't just shake of the blast?" Thalia asked.

"There's no living thing besides the gods that could shake of the blast of this turret. It's range is too great and the explosion is too wide to be easily avoided without prior desertion of the area in question," I answered, confident in my father's powers. "Funny, two of my Hunters shot at him with arrows made of celestial bronze and they simply bounced off his armor," Thalia replied, feistier than was normal. Still, I ordered the turret to fire its round once it was brought in and I smiled in the knowledge that we had smoked that son of a gun.

The explosion came and went in an instant, leaving me to gloat about my victory. I ordered soldiers to make sure nothing remained but to my shock, the demigod was still alive! That and besides a chunk of his helmet as well as more than half his cape, the demigod was completely unharmed. He cut down my soldiers like they were grass and he was a lawnmower, even going as far as to destroy the cannon with single pulse of telekinetic energy.

"That's not even possible, nothing survives that cannon at that range!" I shouted, desperate. "If you really wanted to try and destroy me, have the Enola Gay and her crew come back long enough to drop another atom bomb on me. I doubt that would change anything save the fact that several innocent mortals would die in the blast and you would look like an idiot in front of your dad," the demigod replied. "I will destroy you if it's the last thing I do, I swear it!" I hissed as I unsheathed my sword.

"Stygian ice, no doubt you honestly believe that you by yourself (with a blade made of ice) could do what a daughter of Zeus with twenty-five Hunters of Artemis couldn't do?" the demigod asked. I hesitated and he took that brief moment of hesitation to grab the sword, yank it from my hands without even cutting himself, then give me a solid punch to the nose. My nose bled like crazy and Thalia took me to go to the Apollo kids I brought with me for medical attention. We were soon on the road after the last of the Hunters had been gathered up and were in the cars we had been given by Chiron.

I ordered for a pursuit to be mounted against that demigod but was told that if we did that the Artemis Hunters would likely die from the wounds. Reluctantly, I had to give up any hopes for a chase that I could have had and let the Apollo kids proceed with driving the wounded home. At the same time, I attended to my bloody nose and made sure that the bleeding was stopped before blood leaked everywhere. But a question came to my mind when I had healed my nose and placed myself next to Thalia.

"How did that demigod know who I was?" I asked. "His name is Gabriel from what I can gather and he knew you most likely because of your sword," Thalia answered. "But how would he know the difference between celestial bronze and Stygian ice?" I asked, inquisitive and a bit of a pouter. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Thalia said calmly.

I told her to try me but I was unprepared for what she had to say. "That demigod does not serve the Titans. In fact, he was on a diplomatic mission on behalf of Olympian gods that he calls his 'Special Five'. Keep in mind that a rogue demigod in the service of Olympus is not unheard of so he may have seen Stygian ice before," Thalia explained. I was at a complete loss for words because I had not thought of it.

A demigod son of Kronos under the service of Olympus in spite of having no membership in Camp Half-Blood? Now I knew that I was definitely in for some trouble with my father and stepmother when I realized that. "But that doesn't answer my question of how he might have heard of Stygian ice before," I said. "Perhaps he saw it used by the Titan Army when we were waging war against them three weeks ago," she replied.

That solved my questions for the moment but there would undoubtedly be more along soon. At the back of each of the cars, Apollo medics began working on the repairs that the Hunters would need before they could even stand let alone fight the demigod again. "Hey Nico, compared to my hunters, he let you off the hook so be grateful you never got more than that bloody nose," Thalia stated. "What about you?" I asked rudely.

"My left arm is broken from hand to shoulder and my spinal cord is in great pain. Now don't laugh at me, you get kicked in the abdomen hard enough to fly right into a dumpster with the equivalent impact of a meteor then tell me how it feels. By the way, my abdomen and the whole area around it hurts from that as well," she answered. "Well at least you weren't expecting when you received the injuries," I said, completely off the top of my head.

She slapped me in reply and told me to be ashamed of myself for saying that. "What, the impact would likely have killed the baby and you would have needed to get it out of your womb, right?" I asked. "That's not the kind of thing you talk to a girl about much less a Lieutenant of Artemis who also happens to be Zeus' daughter," Thalia answered. I shrugged and we did not speak anymore after that in the knowledge that if we did, we would likely be at each other's necks before long.

We were soon back at Camp Half-Blood after we took the cars for a little flight in the air and landed near the camp. The Apollo kids quickly brought the Hunters of Artemis into the Asclepius Cabin where the real medics began their work on Thalia's warriors. For Thalia, it was just a quick cast on her arm and she was soon back in action but not of the other Hunters were so lucky. Phoebe and about seven others were bound to wheelchairs, ten more could not even be moved from the bed without risk of dying from the effort, six had two broken legs and walked on crutches, and two had to wear neck casts just to stand safely.

Most had to be bandaged to prevent bleeding from the slashes that had been given by the swords of the son of Kronos. That did not include Thalia and Phoebe but it did include at least a dozen of the Hunters. Only one thing was really mutual about more than ten of the Hunters: every single Hunter except Thalia had been knocked unconscious during the fight. Chiron looked over the Hunters of Artemis and saw that their situation was very grim.

He even looked grim when he saw how everything was with the Hunters of Artemis. "I'm calling a Council meeting, the leaders of each Cabin will need to see me at the Big Cabin in six hours. That should be enough time for all the Cabin leaders to come in and listen to Thalia's prognosis on the situation with the son of Kronos," he declared. I agreed and decided to stay in the Hades cabin until it was time for the meeting.

After all, I needed some time alone to ponder what had happened and why it happened. Not only that but there was the fact that it happened in almost the blink of an eye. First, it looked as though I was going to destroy the demigod then he turned the tables on me and destroyed all of my artillery and my soldiers. Apparently my father was thinking similar thoughts since he came to visit me shortly after I had settled down in my bed in the Hades Cabin.

"I see you survived your encounter with my half-brother. Tell me, how is it fighting someone whose only flaw is that he is mortal?" he asked. I tried to explain that I did the best I could to destroy that demigod but he stopped me. "Your sister would have been better than that because hey, she would not have attacked the son of Kronos if she knew she could do nothing," Dad said.

"I had to at least buy time for Thalia and the others to be loaded on to the cars and escape. Even if I didn't make it myself, I would seen to it that Thalia and her Hunters lived to fight another day," I replied. "What difference does it make? Zeus is _furious _at me for your actions against a servant of Olympus!" Dad shouted.

I had nothing to say so he asked me how I intended to explain what I had done. "Maybe I will wait until the meeting and then explain what I did and why," I said. "Oh that will be a sight to behold, Zeus will surely be watching you explain yourself at the Camp," my dad mocked. "So he is indeed a servant of Olympus and not of the Titans?" I asked.

"Why would I say it if it was not true? A god seldom says things that are not true unless there is a very good reason for it," my father answered. "But dad, surely there is a good reason that you and the other gods never revealed this servant to us before," I said. "Now you're thinking, now you're really thinking about things correctly," my dad said sarcastically.

"Well why wasn't revealed to us before the fight with Kronos?" I pressed. "We didn't reveal him because we felt that it was not yet time for him to be revealed. You see, we wanted him more for cleanup work after the war with the Titans since he was good at that. Besides, he could have single-handedly fought the war for you so what glory would any of you have had?" my dad explained.

Now I understood why my father was mad: I had attacked a servant of Olympus that the gods had intended to keep secret until the time was right. Because of this, I now understood that I had to apologize to the gods for the damage that I had done. Six hours passed and it was time for the Council meeting with all the leaders of the Cabins of Camp Half-Blood including the new ones like Hades, Nemesis, and Morpheus. Once we all arrived at the new meeting chamber that Chiron had built to accommodate us all, the meeting began with Thalia delivering her report first.

"From what I gathered before the fight, this demigod's name is Gabriel Johnson and he is a secret servant of the Olympians. He even has a group he serves called the 'Special Five' by his decree. As to which five gods he serves, I do not know yet and I am not sure that we will be finding out for a long while if we are to find out at all. He also mentions that he harbors a grudge against the Titans for some deeds they did to him long ago and thus, he is in the service of the gods until he can get revenge.

"This is all the information I have from before the fight but let me ask the Council this question. No doubt we have met powerful entities before but when was the last time that one demigod stood to the full might of one god or goddess' cabin and held his own? Not only hold his own but also has given twenty-five people injuries that could have been permanent in ways that would have killed at least four mortal people. Considering that he normally only attacks servants of the Titans and the Titans themselves, such power should not be allowed to fall into their hold," she explained.

"I agree, this Gabriel Johnson could change the entire tide of any war we may fight later on," Annabeth said. "If the Council does not mind I would like to make a public apology that the 'Special Five' and Zeus are probably watching. After all, I took drastic action to make sure that the Hunters of Artemis and the children of Apollo made it back to Camp," I said. When Chiron nodded, I confessed to having tried to destroy the demigod and apologized for my actions because they were too extreme.

"May the gods look on your apology and accept it," Chiron said. "No, may Gabriel Johnson here this apology and accept it," I replied. "A wise reply for someone normally so brash," Thalia agreed. I did not even look at her as I knew the way she was probably patronizing me for my actions.

Since she was a daughter of Zeus but was a Lieutenant of Artemis, we asked Phoebe to represent Artemis while Thalia stepped up to represent her father. That's besides the point but when I sat back down to represent Hades, Percy suggested a move that I thought was intriguing. "May I suggest, with Chiron's permission, that we create a diplomatic search party to find the servant of Kronos and invite him to join us. We can even given him a written apology from Nico if it means having him join us," he suggested.

"I'm terrible at writing, last time I checked. Could we perhaps type it in some manner or have someone write it for me?" I asked. Chiron chuckled and decided that maybe that would work if nothing else would. "Tell me something Thalia," Drew of the Aphrodite cabin said.

"Yes Drew, what is it that you want me to tell you?" Thalia asked. "Was he a handsome fellow?" Drew answered. "I didn't get a good look at him because he was mostly hidden by his armor but what I saw of him hinted that to me. That's about as much of an answer as I can give you at the moment," Thalia said.

"Why is it that you're always asking whether or not that a possible arrival may be handsome?" Clarisse of the Ares cabin asked. "Until I find my perfect man, I will never know who he is. That's why I ask about all the new male arrivals, is there a problem with that?" Drew replied. No one had a reply to that one and Chiron decided to close the meeting before it turned into just a bunch of bickering kids.


	5. Nico: Reuniting with my friends

Nico:

Reuniting with my friends once again

The only people I was looking forward to see after the meeting were Annabeth and Percy. They both had enough sensibility not to patronize me just because I was a son of Hades like Thalia did. Speaking of Percy and Annabeth, I caught them when they were walking down to the river with interlocked hands. "Hey Percy, Annabeth, hope I am not interrupting anything but I needed some friends to hang out with," I said.

"Actually Nico, we do have a few minutes to spare but we would like some private time with each other before dinner tonight. So soon as we want you to leave, we will let you know okay?" Annabeth replied. I nodded and shrugged but in the end I agreed to their terms and I truthfully didn't care right then. "Can you tell me what weapons you used in your fight against the demigod son of Kronos named Gabriel?" Annabeth asked.

"I used at least half a dozen souls of WWII soldiers, all of whom were armed to the teeth as well as a U.S.S carrier cannon. Oh and I used some Civil War-era Gatling guns as well a couple cannons from the Revolutionary War. Does that help you understand the demigod's power if that was your goal?" I explained. "That helps but so much artillery and he survived virtually unscathed… such incredible power," Annabeth said.

"It's hard for me to believe as well, but I don't think it has to do with his own power as much as his armor," I said. Percy asked what I meant and I knew I had to elaborate. "There was a legendary suit of armor said to have been worn by Achilles himself and was given to Odysseus when he died. The gods granted him this armor because he had lost his original suit when his cousin Patroclus stole it to lead the Greeks to victory and was killed by Hector," I answered.

When Percy and Annabeth told me to go on, I made sure to do that. "This suit was said to be invincible against any weapon forged by man although Achilles was already invincible with the notable exception of his heel. He destroyed Hector with this armor on but when he was struck down by Paris, Odysseus took the armor after winning a debate with Ajax the Greater. However, the suit was lost at sea during the return trip to Ithaca when Odysseus' men profaned Apollo's sacred herd of cattle by slaughtering some of its members for food.

"Because the armor was lost at sea and Odysseus was forced to return home without it, it was thought that this incredible shell created by the gods was lost to time. But if my suspicion is confirmed, the gods may have had other plans for that suit of armor and may have even modified it for the demigod to use," I finished. I added that I really hoped that I was wrong about my suspicion about the incredible armor's whereabouts. Because I truly hoped that it was still at the bottom of the Aegean Sea in Greece where it had been last seen or had rot away.

"That may be a lead onto how he survived but at the same time, where's a lead on why he is so vengeful toward the Titans. And that's probably the greatest mystery we have on our hands," Percy said. "Not just random Titans, Titans connected to Olympus are on his okay-list. That just narrowed out a whole bunch I could name but there are those who betrayed Zeus three weeks ago like Prometheus along with his brother or Oceanus, one of those Titans," Annabeth agreed.

"But what could they ever have done to a son of their lord and master to turn him against them? The Titans would be needing every single powerful weapon they can get right about now with us emerging victorious," I asked. "Who knows, I will have to look into that as soon as I have the time," Annabeth answered.

I guessed it was time for me to leave the two of them alone and they told me I was correct. It was good that I got to hang out with them for a little while and get some of my thoughts out to at least one of my friends but having two to do that to was awesome. I watched as they sat down under a tree and Percy lied down on it first before Annabeth sat on his lap with her back facing him. The good thing was I was not interested in their romancing so I turned to head to my cabin before I was called to dinner.

I truthfully felt like being alone for a little bit at least but then a Hermes kid called me over. As it turned out the Stoll brothers, who now led the cabin with the treachery and death of Luke, wanted to speak to me about the demigod. Travis wanted to know if the son of Kronos was going to be staying in the Hermes cabin with them. Connor just wanted to know if he would be an easy person to steal from.

"To answer your question Travis, I think he'll be staying in the cabin that honors his present master. As for Connor's question, if he winds up staying in the Hermes cabin I would not count on him being easy to steal from. For one thing he is a son of Kronos and for another, he's been in the service of the gods probably too long to be tricked by a child of Hermes," I answered.

They seemed pretty upset but that didn't matter much to me. When Hermes kids were not protecting the Camp or Olympus from Titan forces, they were pests who always looked for ways to pull off a prank or steal something. That's what I reminded myself about when suddenly, a big horn blew off and everyone was called for Chiron's special announcement. In no time, the demigods of Camp Half-Blood gathered around in the amphitheater to hear what Chiron had to say about anything.

When everyone had their seats (mine a few seats from Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth), the announcements came in. "Demigods of Camp Half-Blood, may I have your attention please?" Chiron asked. Everyone silenced themselves at once since it was more interesting to listen to Chiron then Mr. D, our godly supervisor. "By now, many have heard of the rumors about a demigod son of Kronos," Chiron began.

I gulped because there was a good chance that he would mention my actions. "I shall confirm that these rumors are all true, the demigod exists. Thalia Grace and Nico di Angelo have already seen but a small portion of his power when they fought him two days ago and can tell you more about it. But that is not why I have called all of you Campers here today.

"Today, I would like to welcome someone who needs no introduction from the Artemis Hunters or from the Hades Cabin. I brought you all here to welcome my half-brother, Gabriel Johnson to Camp Half-Blood. His present master is none other than the Olympian goddess Hera so he shall be staying in her Cabin unless he chooses to stay somewhere else. Please welcome my half-brother, Gabriel Ladon Johnson!" Chiron announced.

Gabriel, who turned out to be the golden-armored demigod we had fought, stepped up to the stage and shook Chiron's hand. "Dionysus has already tutored him around Camp Half-Blood so here he is to speak to you today," Chiron said. Gabriel then took Chiron's place at the speaker's spot "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of Camp Half-Blood," Gabriel began.

"Hey, I heard you kicked Thalia Grace's butt! The Ares cabin welcomes you to stay and share space with the children of War anytime," Clarisse La Rue of the Ares Cabin shouted. "Thanks, perhaps I will take your offer sometime but anyway, I know I've already met some of you on the wrong end of my swords and would like to publicly apologize. I was on a diplomatic mission however, I made little effort to keep it diplomatic and was chastised for it by Lady Hestia.

"If the Artemis Cabin is willing to accept my apology, will the leader stand up and say so now? And after she has accepted it, will the leader of the Hades Cabin also stand up to accept this apology?" Gabriel asked. Thalia stood up, the light shining on her and said that both Artemis and Zeus forgave his violent actions. Then it was my turn to stand up and I did so quickly.

"Hades forgives your actions against his children. However, I must say that my father was quite furious when he found out I attacked you," I said. Everyone around me had a good laugh from that comment and I stepped down quickly. "Glad to hear we have settled the old score diplomatically and now, I would like to take a moment to answer any and all questions that anyone else may have about me. Please try to refrain from questions like 'Can you sleep in our cabin tonight?' or 'Would like to sleep with us in our cabin?'" Gabriel said in a tone that had the Hermes kids laughing.

That eliminated any questions Drew Beauregard had for him but not any that some of the other cabins had. "Hey Gabriel, can you sing or play an instrument?" Will Solace, the leader of the Apollo Cabin asked. "Well, I was part of my high school choir before I took up service to the gods and was one of the best there but I doubt I'm as good as you guys," Gabriel answered. "How strong would you say you are with just one arm?" Jake Mason from the Hephaestus cabin asked.

"I can throw a full-grown Cyclops over my head off a cliff with just one hand if you mean wrestling. If you mean weight, I could probably life an entire battleship its weight in solid gold with just one hand," Gabriel answered. I probably went pale at that point even though I couldn't see it but murmurs rustled through the crowd, murmurs of exclamation and even fear. "Can you teach us to fight the way you do?" Annabeth asked.

"I can _try _to teach you but I can absolutely guarantee that even if my skills brought out the best in all of you, it won't make you more powerful than me. You all might have power but I have years of experience and on top of that I have been trained by the gods themselves. That's something you people would kill for here at Camp Half-Blood, believe me," Gabriel answered. "How fast can you run?" Travis Stoll asked.

"If I really needed to risk overexerting myself, I could run faster than light itself. However, I usually prefer to teleport to destinations that would require that kind of speed," Gabriel answered. "Are you good at avoiding having a prank played on you or being stolen from?" Connor Stoll asked. "You have got to be kidding me; if it were survival and you were trying to steal my supplies, you'd be dead before you touched them," Gabriel answered.

The Ares cabin laughed in an uproar of joy and pleasure knowing that little fun fact. I knew that this was probably not the perfect time ask my question but I knew I had no choice. "Gabriel, where in all that is sacred, did you obtain that golden armor?" I asked. There was a sudden silence in the crowd as Gabriel tried to figure out how to answer that one.

"Let me put it this way: when you're in the service of the gods, you can ask anyone of them for a favor related to your task," Gabriel answered. "So you asked Hephaestus to forge that armor for you?" I inquired. "Yeah I did, he was in the mood for forging this since he had a prototype that he couldn't give me," Gabriel calmly replied. So the gods had indeed recovered the armor first granted to Achilles then Odysseus but it could not be used for anything except blueprints!

"Anymore questions before I go off this stage and have to keep you all waiting until dinner to talk to me again?" Gabriel asked. Nobody had any questions left so the announcement had ended as well as the conference with the demigod son of Kronos. I went to my seat at the dining pavilion and hoped that the hearty eating would take my mind off what had transpired.

As fate would have it, I was not the only one with that thought racing through my head as Percy and Thalia each to their place at the Poseidon and Zeus seats respectively. I shouted across to Thalia and asked why she wasn't sitting with her fellow Hunters. "Truthfully, I just need time to myself and I hope the demigod son of Kronos will come to me when if I'm alone," she replied. I nodded, admiring the fact that she would even consider offering our new uncle a seat by her side.

Slowly, the demigods of all cabins trickled in. The noise level increased with the arrival of more and more until at last, all twenty-one tables had occupied seats. Chiron sat at his own separate seat and Mr. D sat with his children at the Dionysus table. Once everyone was in the dining pavilion and had made their offers to their patron god or goddess, we awaited Gabriel's arrival.

We made sure not to keep too quiet so as not to arouse him to the fact that we were waiting to see who he would sit with tonight. Then he came in about two or three minutes later, took what he wanted from the line of food, offered his best piece to the gods, and looked around slowly but surely for a place to sit. He probably guessed that it was normally forbidden for demigods to intermingle with one another at the dining pavilion since he didn't tell us to try to entice him over to their table. Then he surprised by verbally telling us his choice for tonight's session of dinner: "Oh that's right, Annabeth wants to interview me; guess I've decided who I'm gonna sit with."

No doubt, he was agitated by us watching him even after he sat down when he turned around and told us to resume mingling and eating. "Where are we, the Underworld? I've never seen a crowd of so many teenagers so silent since that trip I made to retrieve Cerberus from Asphodel," he added. We all turned to our food and returned to mingling if we had anybody to mingle with but I could just talk to Percy since he was across from me and the tables were sized for just each of us.

"I'm surprised he chose to go with the Athena cabin tonight. Hey, I'm even more surprised to hear him say that Annabeth had to interview him. It's like something out of CNN or Fox News with her," I said. "Well, like any child of Athena, she does have an insatiable appetite to learn everything she can about everything," Percy replied.

I nodded in agreement and asked him if he had the same desire. "In my case, I only learn what I need to learn to get by and at this camp that's a lot," Percy said. I agreed that I was a bit the same way, which came as a surprise to me considering my natural age. But for now, I returned to the business of eating and let Fate play itself out for right now.


	6. Annabeth: Doing a little research

Annabeth:

Doing a little research into the past (with some unexpected help)

Yes, I had requested an interview with Gabriel in private but I was surprised at how quick he was to respond to it. "I'm sorry to have made the request, from the look of it you had a rough past," I said when he sat down. "That's why I accepted your request, so that the demigods of Camp Half-Blood could understand my position as servant of Olympus a bit better," Gabriel said. I got out a pen and some paper from my notebook and told him to proceed whenever he was ready but to go slow so I could catch it all.

After the interview, I gathered the information that he had given me and that encompassed eighteen pages of my notebook. He was born in Duarte, Los Angeles to a woman who he only remembered as "Mary" and his father Kronos. His uncle was an alcoholic, which made life as his foster son a tragic beginning for Gabriel. When he was nine, his aunt introduced him to his paternal family and he had nearly fainted from finding out that they were the gods of Olympus and the preceding Titans.

He lived amongst them for two years since even when he was sober, Gabriel's uncle still tended to be abusive. When he returned, his uncle accepted him with open arms and called him his son like he had hoped would happen. He needed son badly since he already had two younger daughters by his wife and they were a handful. Gabriel's maternal family (when they didn't die of old age or disease first) were amongst the first mortal casualties of the Titans king Kronos' return to power and his uncle found himself having to pay for the funerals of his family almost every other month.

His uncle, cousins, and aunt were the last of his maternal family to die and they had died right in front of his eyes, a year after he had been accepted. The day of their deaths was a day where they tried to be happy in spite of all the damage had been done by the Titans. On that day, it was cloudy with little chance of rain and Oceanus had started an uprising in the waters below. So the seas and oceans were a little against them as they sailed their yacht on one of their pleasure cruises that they took whenever they could.

The oceans were not the problem so much as what was above them on that day. Gabriel's uncle had gone down below deck to get some soda for Gabriel and his cousins when something fell from the sky toward them. As it turned out, it appeared to be a meteor but it turned out to be a Titan that was coming down in the form of a meteor. They saw nothing of the immortal himself before he crash into the yacht and bent it completely in half.

The rear half exploded since it was the engine side and the gasoline had been ignited. Meanwhile, the front half was sinking with Gabriel's uncle, aunt, and his eldest cousin trapped in it after he saved the youngest. One of the leftover boards of wood from the rear half was big enough for both Gabriel and his youngest cousin to lie down on it and safely float across the southeastern Pacific for as long as they needed to. For four days, the two of them floated safely across the ocean before his cousin succumbed to a heat stroke and died.

The Titan who had attacked them three days before watched as Gabriel pushed his cousin's body off his platform of wood. Below, sharks had waited since the beginning until some food had dropped in and Gabriel looked up to that Titan just to avoid watching his sister become lunch to them. The only thing that kept Gabriel from thinking that it was the Titan Iapetus was the fact that this Titan had a scar that looked like he had been bitten by some predatory bird along his chest and stomach. For several long moments, the two of them exchanged eye contact and Gabriel knew that this Titan would be his enemy for as long as he lived.

After the exchange of eye contact, the Titan vanished and left Gabriel floating for another week before he was found by a fisherman. Though barely alive at that point, Gabriel's anger and hatred of the Titan kept him alive long enough for him to reach a hospital in San Diego and recover. When he got out of the hospital, Hestia returned to him and made him a proposition: he would be given the power to take revenge against the Titans, especially that one, in exchange for serving five gods of his choice for a year each. From what I can gather, he is in the late part of his final year in service to the gods and from what he has said, he hopes for an early chance to avenge his family and live the rest of his days in peace.

His service to the gods has been one of the best things that has happened to him in spite of the high prices he has had to pay for it. First, he would often suffer flashbacks of the day when his uncle, aunt, and cousins were killed by the Titans. Next, he would suffer a fit of madness in which he would be only satisfied if he bedded a woman within the next few hours. Finally, he would fall asleep feeling ashamed of what he had done and hope for a better day.

But since these were not prices that the gods made him pay, he was perfectly content with serving them in spite of his own personal pain. He told me that he knew for certain that it would all go away on the day he caught up with that Titan and killed him. And this Titan, he said, was the bringer of fire and the benefactor of mankind and that made it even more thrilling for him. This brought alarm in me because then I knew who he wanted revenge against more than anyone: Prometheus himself.

Gabriel vowed to kill Prometheus before he died as well as any other Titans, monsters, or mortals who got in his way. I thanked him for relaying the information over to me before I saw him leave the Athena table and (unbelievably) walk over to the Aphrodite table. But not before he went to get seconds on food since he apparently had a bigger appetite than most people. He also knocked himself out on infinite amounts (thanks to the magic grails) of RC Cola.

Drew Beauregard, leader of the Aphrodite cabin, made the first moves on him and he accepted her advances. That led me to guess that he was on the verge of going into a fit of madness unless he found a woman to sleep with. The good thing was that I was not his target but the bad thing was that his target was a masochist for pleasure (so to speak). With research in hand, I went to Chiron and asked him how much he already knew about his half-brother Gabriel.

"I know everything Annabeth because I was one of the immortal beings who raised him. Fortunately, I was also one of the doctors who saw to his recovery by smuggling in nectar and ambrosia from Camp Half-Blood," Chiron said to me. I had to admit that it was an impressive feat for Chiron to pass as a doctor but with his magical wheelchair and his ability to manipulate the Mist, anything was possible. "Does he… remember you from when you helped him recover from his near-death experience?" I asked.

"He does because he has a natural ability to see through the Mist, more natural than any demigod here. It would make even the keenest of demigods look blind," Chiron said. That really surprised me then I asked Chiron if it was really necessary for him to play out his earthly pleasures upon the daughters of Aphrodite. "His heart is one full of grief that is only temporarily covered up by those pleasures and it's much better than having him smuggle alcohol for certain," Chiron answered, his face filled with sadness as he said it.

Then I saw a sight that I didn't think I would be seeing: a tear dropping from Chiron's eye. "You love your brother don't you?" I asked. Chiron nodded but showed only slight surprise that I had figured that out. "That's why I hope he's granted an early victory in his quest for revenge or an early death," Chiron added.

"How do you know an early death will spare him misery? Hades may choose to put him in Tartarus," I asked. "Hades can try but Hestia will not let that happen to him without a fight," Chiron answered. "So that's who he presently serves!" I shouted, having figured it out at last. "Actually he serves Hera but does answer to Hestia, Helios, Selene, and Eos," Chiron told me after shaking his head.

All five of those names surprised me but Hera was the one who sparked the most old memories. For a whole year, her sacred cows dropped nice little presents on my dad's lawn without us being able to stop them. And that was only for a small case of truth I put on her in the Labyrinth last year. "Well Chiron, I wish you good night and I think I'll make a prayer that when he-has fun- he doesn't shake the whole campground," I said.

Chiron chuckled and assured me that he would not be doing that. I sighed in relief but I was not entirely sure I wanted to be relieved by that. Nonetheless, I walked to my cabin in content with myself and the fact that there was good chance I would still be having a peaceful sleep. Malcolm agreed with me on that and asked if it might be possible for me to lend him Daedalus' laptop for a project he was doing. I gave him the laptop then went to the bunk I slept in and quietly put myself to sleep for the night.

While Malcolm worked on his project with the instructions on the laptop, I slept and dreamed dreams that I have never had before. In the dream, my vision was narrowed by a helmet of ancient design and I had a spear pointing in front of me towards an (as yet) unknown enemy. But then, the enemy came into my line of sight in the form of an unidentified soldier with a strange design that I had never seen before. He kept attacking me then shouted something strange: "For the Titans!" and insisted on his attack.

I was very lucky to have been able to kill him but as it turned out, it was an undead soldier. Endless hordes of undead soldiers attacked from every angle and I noticed that I was surrounded by soldiers who were not even Greek. One of them shouted "For Troy!" and I knew instantly that I was fighting with Trojans. I faded into the background because I noticed that I was carrying a sack with something of value inside it.

It had the weight of a massive jewel and one of the Trojan soldiers told me to escape the ruins of Troy before it was too late. But that did not make sense: the _ruins _of Troy? Was I in modern time or was I in the ancient days. As fate would have it, I was in the modern time and I was carrying a suit of armor out of the ruins of Troy. I ran for the ancient ruins of the Trojan gate, dodging undead enemies serving the Titans and occasionally being saved by Trojan soldiers.

I escaped with minimal casualties to my person but by the end of that same week, the Trojans had been wiped out. After running far enough away, I undid the bag and donned on the armor. I was curious to see what it felt like and whether it fit me or not. It not only fit me perfectly but also gave me a surge of power unlike anything that I have ever felt before.

It truly was a jewel in its own right and I wielded the armor alongside unbeatable martial arts and equally powerful skills in swordplay. It felt good until I came across a woman and she was crying for a reason I could not quite understand. Then she surprised me and said that she loved me but she did not want to see me leave. "I will never leave you," I said but in a man's voice rather than my own.

Without any control over myself, I placed a hand (not my own but the hand of a man) on her face and attempted to sooth her. Then I turned, lacking control over this man's body but apparently seeing what he was seeing. A woman, no doubt a goddess of Olympus from her aura, appeared in the doorway with a menacing intent in her voice. "You have two choices hero: return to service, your crime will be forgiven and she will be spared from my wrath.

"But choose to stay with her and your crime will not be forgiven. It will follow you even in death, giving you no peace and carrying you to Tartarus right next to the Titans' place of punishment! As for the girl, she will be amusement in beginning the end of what little peace you ever had," the goddess explained. I knew I couldn't let it happen and apparently, this body knew he couldn't let it happen either.

So the man took the steps toward the goddess and he was redeemed for his sin against the gods. I woke up, sweating and my heart thumping harder than it usually did. In fact, it was thumping so hard that I could literally hear it beating in my ears. "You okay Annabeth?" Malcolm asked.

"I just had a bad dream that's all," I said. "Annabeth, you are my half-sister and the leader of the Athena cabin. I want no secrets from you please tell me what's going on," he replied. I told him the dream and he grimaced, guessing that it somehow applied to Gabriel and I knew I had to find him or Percy tomorrow.

The next day…

"There's a disturbance in the oceans and Poseidon wishes for four demigods from our camp. I have selected Gabriel as one of them to initiate him into the Camp and I have selected Percy Jackson since he would guarantee everyone else protection in his father's domain," Chiron explained. "If it's not too much to ask Chiron, I too would like to go on this mission. Gabriel and I were only acquainted in the sense of reporter and subject of interview yesterday," I said.

"Annabeth Chase, take your place beside Percy if you wish to go and the next one to step up may take his or her place beside Gabriel," Chiron said. To my surprise, Thalia decided that she would join but not for anything related to Gabriel. "While my Hunters are recovering, I will be in need of something to do now that my arm has healed," she explained. She also added that she would be amongst friends if she went on this mission with me, Percy, and Gabriel.

"Then it is decided that Perseus Jackson of the Poseidon Cabin, Thalia Grace of the Zeus and Artemis cabins, Annabeth Chase of the Athena Cabin, and Gabriel Johnson of the Hera Cabin shall go to visit Poseidon. I sadly fear the worst for the domain of the seas but that is what you four are assigned to confirm," Chiron declared. "My dear brother, I love you but I love it even more when you try to revive the Greek theatrical style of speaking," Gabriel said. Everyone chuckled but we were soon on our way.


	7. Percy: A not so fine reunion

Percy:

A-not-so fine reunion with my father in his Palace and more answers

Once again, I had to visit my father's palace in the sea under bad circumstances but it looked good for once. My brother Tyson was out with a patrol so he was not able to come see that I was here yet but I could wait. This matter was much more pressing and had to be dealt with first before I could have any charming family reunions. Amphitrite welcomed us into the Palace once we arrived and even made it dry for my friends to walk around.

"Hello Percy, may I be introduced to your friends?" Amphitrite asked. "Sure, this is my friend Annabeth, daughter of Athena. This is Thalia, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis and this is Gabriel, lieutenant of the Hera cabin but truly a son of you-know-who," I answered. She knew who I was talking about by the look I probably wore, which whispered the name Kronos to her.

"Ah, the son of Kronos and we meet at last! I do not understand why but I have always absent whenever you have been in my palace," Amphitrite stated, startled that the son of Kronos was here. "Maybe Poseidon willed it that way, you should ask him next time you two are alone," Gabriel replied. "Percy, allow me to show you to your father and your friends can wait in the lobby while you discuss business with him," Amphitrite requested.

Besides Gabriel, everyone looked like they needed my assurance that everything was probably going to be all right. "Don't try and assure me that you'll be all right, I already know it without even needing oracular vision," Gabriel replied to me. They gathered in the lobby where a feast was being prepared for them as they sat down to enjoy it. Let me tell you, my friend Grover would have been all over this food if he had seen it and so would I if I could stay for it.

Everything was blue, the way I liked it, even the candy that came with it at the end. Blue ham, blue cheese (and I don't mean that stuff that looks like it has a lot of mold in it), blue everything like I had said before. Soon, I arrived at my father's throne room after traveling through some winding hallways and arriving at a door that looked like it took ten Cyclopes to open. After I went inside, I said hello to my dad and asked him what he needed us to do for him.

"Oceanus, the Titan of the oceans and seas, has aroused his wife Tethys and colleague Nereus to his side in another attempt to take the throne of the oceans once again. I need you and your friends to find where he is staying and either try to settle this score and get his rebellion silenced or you silence him entirely," my dad explained.

"But why silence him when we can negotiate a treaty with him?" I asked. "Because then I would show weakness by relinquishing some of my realm back to its old ruler. I am either going to destroy him or I am going to give him back his realm and I am not about to do the latter," my dad answered. To me, that didn't clear things up much better but I guess sin the long run, I was better off not knowing the full story.

"Oh Percy, if you're worried about fighting Oceanus or having to kill him then turn him over to your friend Gabriel for execution. He's killed Titans before with little to no effort whatsoever," my dad blurted out suddenly. I already knew about Gabriel's quest for revenge thanks to Annabeth but that was something I had never heard before. Maybe it had to do with the dream I had last night with me being another man and having to leave a woman behind.

"That's right Percy, ask him why he is _still _in the service of the Special Five in spite of the fact that they promised him a chance at revenge, five years ago," my dad said. I thanked him for the suggestion and assured him that either way, Oceanus would be dealt with before too long. "I hope so boy, I sure to hope so," my dad said.

I returned to my friends after that, briefed them on the mission, then created a bubble of air so that we could all travel to Oceanus' rebuilt palace. Along the way, I ran into conflict about whether I should or shouldn't ask Gabriel why he was still in service to the gods. Then I decided to wait until we were alone to ask him and hopefully find out why he was still in service. Unfortunately, my opportunity came a little too soon because we arrived at Oceanus' Palace in a few minutes and then it was time to split up.

Our plan was to encircle Oceanus from all directions with Thalia and Annabeth going one way while Gabriel and I took another. It was here that I decided to ask why he was still in the service, apparently against his will from what my father said. "So Gabe, can you tell me why you still serve the gods if you wish only to leave and kill Prometheus on your own terms?" I asked. He looked at me like he was as likely to run me through his swords as to tell me then calmed down and decided it was better getting it off his chest.

"It began almost a year ago when I found this suit of armor that I presently wear on my body," he started. "I found it in the ruins of Troy as part of a mission to take the remaining riches of Troy from the ruin that the Greeks had left behind after the war. By this time, anything of value was likely to have been buried under sand for at least three thousand years but I found the armor in the remains of the Trojan Palace. Using the powers of a jewel I had at that time, I summoned a battalion of Trojan soldiers to cover my exit when my father Kronos had sent two thousand undead soldiers to stop me.

"After I escaped, I discovered the armor's defense capacities and was so blown away that I decided to use it to make the world a better place for mankind to live in. For four months, I fought against crime with the armor unnoticed and unvisited by my present mistress, Hera. After that, I tried to live out a normal life and forget about my grudge against Prometheus. I figured that it was time to let go of that childish hatred and carve out a new existence for myself in spite of having no family.

"I was one of those citizens in Turkey who married young and had a wonderful wife. She was two months pregnant when Hera returned for me and demanded that I return to service. If I did, my crime of bailing out of my service would be forgiven and my wife would go unharmed. However, if I did not return to service then she would see to it that my crime pursued me even after death and she would make me killed my wife as well as the little one inside her. I would normally have not submitted to Hera since she was my half-sister and I did not deserve this but because I love my wife too much, I agreed to go back into service under her wing.

"Believe it or not Percy but I'm actually overdue for the end of my service. I made up the four months of my absence first then served the final eight months of my expected servitude to Hera. But she has refused to let me go, even when she and four other gods swore that I would serve them for five years (one for each year) in return for a chance at revenge against Prometheus," he explained. "Have Hestia, Helios, Eos, or Selene spoken out against her?" I asked.

"They've tried but at present, the four of them can do nothing directly against her. So they're trying to consult Zeus and have him tell her to release me since she always answers to him in the end," Gabriel answered. "I hope it all works out to help you later on and if you need anything from me, Thalia, or Annabeth, please do not hesitate to ask," I said. "I need something of you right now: duck your head right now because Oceanus is launching a cannonball against us," Gabriel replied.

I obeyed and he did the same as me, seeing a cannonball (sure enough) whistle over us. "Talk about a trap that you don't see until it's too late," I said rhetorically. "There's a good reason Annabeth calls you Seaweed Brain, isn't that true?" Gabriel teased. I nodded in agreement and soon we arrived to the throne room of Oceanus' underwater palace.

Annabeth and Thalia had already reached the front of the throne and were trying to distract Oceanus from our presence. But just when we were about to attack, his wife Tethys saw us alerted her husband to our presence. Nereus cowered away from me since I had defeated him before and tried to take on Annabeth. Meanwhile, Tethys tried to take me on and Gabriel moved in behind Oceanus while Thalia attacked him head on.

And just when we thought we had victory, Oceanus, Tethys, and Nereus joined hands. At first, I thought they were gonna sing a song but then Tethys and Nereus began to glow with a light I had never seen before. After that, they fell to the ground and were obviously dead from how they were positioned as well as the fact that they turned to water. I knew because that's what my father told me when I asked him about what happens to sea gods when they died but Oceanus looked thrilled.

"Great, he's combined the power of himself, Tethys, and Nereus all in one body. As if fighting the three of them individually wasn't bad enough," Gabriel stated. "Yes son of Kronos, I have done just that and now I will destroy all four of you!" Oceanus shouted. "If I were you Annabeth, I'd take Percy and try to flank him at both sides," Gabe whispered.

She nodded and called me to go to the right of Oceanus while she took the left. Thalia would sneak behind and Gabe would take him directly this time and boy was it a strategy. For a long time it worked, especially with Gabe pounding the Titan's head in with the powers of a god up there in power with my dad or even my uncle Zeus. Thalia took him down from the rear, stabbing from behind his knees.

Annabeth and I struck at his side just beneath the underarm whenever we could. It seemed to bring him down quickly but then he called in his army that had originally been sent to attack my dad's palace. Soon, we were surrounded by thousands of undead soldiers then Gabe took a flare that Amphitrite had given him and ignited it, sending it into the oceans above the palace. "What did you do that for?" I asked.

"If we can trust Amphitrite to her word, it should send your brother Tyson and his army of Cyclops from anywhere in the ocean to help us. Might I add that they will also be coming at a high velocity and arrive here in a few minutes if she keeps true to her word?" Gabe answered. I nodded and thought that that was not a bad idea to consider since it was probably the only one we could consider to keep ourselves alive.

Oceanus lied where he had fallen, wounded and coughing up ichor. "Gabriel Johnson, yours are definitely the powers of Kronos but I cannot let you live. My army is here to ensure that you never escape but I wish to finish you off myself," the Titan said. "You can't fight with the leg wound Thalia gave you, you know that right?" Gabe asked.

"Mighty is the power of Prometheus though nothing like your father's power. Master, command the oceans to give me one last surge of power to finish them!" Oceanus shouted. At first, nothing happened then Prometheus responded by appearing in person although he did not look too happy about it. "Master, aid me now as I once aided you in your flight to the Olympians," Oceanus begged.

"However thankful I may be for that you have failed me and you know the punishment for failure, don't you?" Prometheus asked. Oceanus looked frightened and rightfully so as Prometheus produced a fireball in his hand and threw it at his fellow Titan's head. In an instant, a massive chunk of Oceanus' head was gone and he died almost instantly. All that remained of the Titan of the seas was just a massive pool of water by the time that his death was complete and official.

"As for all these soldiers, I think I'll see if they can take the glory in striking all four of you down. Especially you son of Kronos since it seems you won't be taking up the chance to take your father's place and be better than him anytime soon," Prometheus said. "I would sooner die than be your figurehead and indirectly continue your hold of the Titans until it was time for me to be disposed of," Gabe hissed. "So be it, soldiers of Orthys, destroy them!" Prometheus ordered.

Before leaving, he added that it was such a pity Gabe would not be joining the Titans since he would have spared me, Annabeth, and Thalia if he did. "They could become your slaves and you could have your way with the girls with nary a worry or care. Wouldn't that be a nice change from being walked all over by the gods of Olympus?" Prometheus mocked before leaving at last. "Imagine the day when Prometheus fights his own battles, wouldn't that be a sight?" Gabe asked the empty air.

"Well, while you are furious at the fact that Prometheus is a coward and I agree, I don't think that it's going to get us out of this. Unless your words could magically destroy these undead soldiers, draconae, and demons," Annabeth said. "Form in a tight circle, we can defend each other that way," Thalia ordered. "Yeah but how would we get out of it, might I ask?" I asked.

"Does the phrase 'Element of Surprise' comes to mind, Seaweed Brain?" Thalia answered. I held Riptide close as Thalia put up her shield Aegis in front of herself and Gabe pointed his swords in opposite directions. Annabeth extended her knife with the blade in front like I extended Riptide to face the enemy. Nonetheless, the hordes of the Titans were getting bolder since their sheer number kept us from escaping.

"What now geniuses?" Thalia asked. "Working on it," Annabeth answered. "Already have an answer and we'll have to act on the count of three, we're gonna be running fast," Gabe said. We all turned in his direction, which was closer to the door out of the throne room and waited for him to count to three.

When he did count to three, he sent out a pulse of telekinesis that cleared a path far enough for us to reach the door. We ran as soon as he did that and headed for the door faster than we had ever run before. Unfortunately, we were stopped from completing our exit by the fact that these soldiers were quick to recover their grasp on us before we escaped. "Talk about a failed attempt to escape in the fashion of a James Bond film," Annabeth said.

"Percy, where the hell is your brother when we need him? Is he on his coffee break or something?" Gabe asked. I shrugged but then, I felt the ground beneath us shake.


	8. Percy: My bro Tyson to the rescue

Percy:

My brother Tyson to the rescue and getting a special package from Mom

The shaking meant only one thing: that my brother Tyson had responded to the flair that Gabriel had ignited earlier. "In the name of Poseidon!" I heard him shout just before he came and started bashing undead soldiers with his "stick" (his weapon given him by the gods when he was made the general of our dad's Cyclops army). I fought as hard as the Curse of Achilles allowed me to, harder than I had ever fought in my life.

Gabe, Thalia, and Annabeth had the same idea in their heads since Gabe was moving almost at the speed of light and Thalia was going mad with her spear. Annabeth was also going mad with her knife and we had a virtual feast out of destroying the hordes of the Titans. Tyson and his Cyclops soldiers also had some fun destroying the palace of Oceanus as well as smashing several hundred soldiers at a time with their feet. Then I saw something that I never thought I'd see: Annabeth, Thalia, and Gab all being grabbed by the Cyclopes and carried away.

Tyson scooped me underneath his arm as well and carried me out of the palace before it started to crumble. "Wait, what about your soldiers Tyson, you're not just gonna leave them behind are you?" I asked. "They will survive the destruction of the Palace with little to no injury but you won't if we don't get out of here soon," Tyson answered. I was suddenly hit by the fact that Tyson's speech seemed less childish than it had been when we last met though still relatively childish.

He had no doubt matured a bit since the last meeting we had together and I was sure glad to have that going for me right now. "Um, I don't think that's the only reason why you're carrying me like I'm some sort of baby," I said. "Look down at your leg and you'll see why," Tyson replied. To my surprise, I had an arrow in my leg and I knew that I was going to be out of the picture for a little while if not for the rest of the quest.

Sad to say this but the curse of Achilles does nothing to accelerate the healing of any wounds that might be obtained besides those blows taken to the weak spot. This was going to make me look bad at Camp but I knew that I had done a good enough part for this month. Think about it, I had helped my friends track down and defeat Oceanus before the Titan Prometheus showed up and finished him for us. Plus, I had helped settle a dispute that Oceanus was having with my father so all in a day's work for Percy Jackson.

Soon, we were above the waters and back at Camp Half-Blood having brought peace to my father's realm once again. It seemed as though Chiron knew what was happening since he and a caravan were ready to greet us when we returned. "Well done you four, Gabriel has completed his initiation by surviving the quest we sent him on with you, Annabeth, and Thalia!" he shouted. "Thanks but can we do something about the arrow in my leg before we celebrate?" I asked.

A stretcher was on its way with two kids from the Asclepius cabin carrying it and I was carefully placed on it. Soon I was back in my cabin with the two Asclepius kids, Jennifer and John, removing the arrow by first breaking off the sharp end then pulling the rest out my leg. I bit my lip to keep from screaming out in pain and Annabeth watched as the whole thing went on. "Talk about a tough demigod for not being a son of Zeus or Kronos," she teased.

I smiled back at her and told her to come closer when everyone had left us. "Truthfully, I don't know how to say this but-" I began. "You love me, don't you?" she asked, cutting me off in mid-sentence. I nodded and she kissed me like we had kissed three weeks before underwater.

"Hey Percy, your Momma sent you something from home and it says that she hopes you are safe and well," Tyson said, coming into the cabin shortly after Annabeth kissed me. "Can I see what's in it now please?" I asked. Tyson handed me the package and I had to admit that I loved it since it was wrapped in blue, just the way I liked my packages. There was an envelope stuck to the top and I carefully pulled it off of the box before opening it and reading the letter inside.

She had also sent me forty bucks, which also happened to be inside the envelope and that was an unusual gift. I put the money in my pocket and read the letter that I had unfolded. It said: _Dear Percy, I really miss you and I hope that I can see you again soon. _

_Paul and I are doing well, in fact, we're engaged to be married this October._

_ Can you believe that and guess what? He proposed to me while we were watching a movie in the living room! I hope you can come home and see our wedding because I am so excited that I even told the rest of our family and invited your father to come if he could. Anyway, enough about me; how are you and Annabeth doing?_

_ You two are such a cute couple and I really like her. The money is Paul's gift to you, he insisted that he give something to you that would be going with the package. Be sure to contact us as soon as you can and let us know how you're doing! I love you and I miss you!_

_Love,_

_Your mother Sally_

_P.S. All your favorite little goodies are inside the box if you know what I mean. _

I smiled and opened the package to see all the blue candy I could have ever wanted in my entire life. Annabeth and I shared some of the candy together as a little romantic experience that was different from what we normally did. But when it was all over, I really wished that I had not gone through it so quickly even if I did have help. That was because there was almost nothing left for later on while I recovered from the leg wound.

Thalia came in and asked how I was doing to which, I responded that I would live. "I thought you would say that and I also thought you'd like to know that Gabe and I are going to Mount Olympus in a few moments," she said. I stared at her like she was crazy and so did Annabeth but she assured us that she wasn't kidding around. "I'm not kidding, my father wants to make amends with me and he would also like to announce before all Olympus that Gabriel is free from Hera's service by his order," Thalia said.

"Percy, you don't mind if I give Gabriel a hug of congratulations when I see him, do you?" Annabeth asked. "Why would I fret about something like that? I'm not like some other stupid teenage boy who doesn't even let his girl give her best male friend a hug," I answered. Gabe came in just in time and Annabeth jumped on him, hugging him as hard as she could.

"I can't believe you're finally going to be free of the gods, congratulations!" she said. "Thanks, but I'm not _entirely _free of the gods just yet," he replied. "Should we go now or what?" Thalia asked. "Best not keep Hermes waiting for us, wouldn't you say?" Gabe answered.


	9. Thalia: Making amends with my father

Thalia:

Making amends with my father at long last

Hermes grabbed me and Gabriel in each hand and we were quickly transported to the top of the Empire State Building. Gabriel was not surprised by how fast we arrived but it took a little adjusting for me since it was a little too quick. "C'mon Thalia, our father is not one to be kept waiting and neither is our uncle," Hermes said, referring to Gabriel. I hurried as quickly as I could and we were soon on the elevator that led to the hidden 600th floor of the Empire State Building a.k.a. Mount Olympus.

When the elevator stopped at our destination, we stepped out and took a good view of the repairs and upgrades that Annabeth had made in the last three weeks on Olympus. "Annabeth has about the same genius as her half-brother Daedalus, something that makes her mother proud," Gabriel said, complimenting Annabeth. I too was impressed by the improvements because instead of stone, the walls were solid stainless steel compacted with many collapse portholes for Gatling guns, M16 machine guns, and bazookas. Soldiers marched on top of the walls and kept regular patrols at the gate which made the outer layer of Olympus seem more like a military base than a home to Olympian gods.

The inside was pretty much the same, especially the Palace where all of the gods met for Council meetings. There were still satyrs, nymphs, and other creatures playing games or watching TV unless they had duties to do on Olympus. Hermes guided me and Gabriel to the Throne Room of the Gods and before long, we were in the presence of all twelve of the Council members from Zeus to Hephaestus. Hestia was also present as was Hades, both of whom were an unusual sight to see on Mount Olympus or even in the throne room for that matter.

Gabriel and I knelt in respect after Hermes took his seat then my dad Zeus began the session with a speech. "For five years Gabriel Johnson, half-brother of myself, my five siblings, and Chiron, has shown us the courage that comes from within the heart through his actions on the behalf of five gods: Hera, Hestia, Helios, Eos, and Selene. Single-handedly, he saw to the end of the Myrmekes in New York City and has also seen the final stand of resurrected Trojan soldiers at the ruins of their country. When he first came to us, he was no better than any other demigod who was not trained to serve us but the fierce fire of loyalty and honesty burned off of him when we saw him.

"Never once did he complain about any of his missions nor did he ever think about the risk to his own life, all in the name of avenging his mother's family and destroying the Titans. That is why today, I would like to call attention to one important detail that has been overlooked by my wife and his present mistress: his time is up and yet Hera insists that he still has to serve her. First, I will let my wife state her case as to why she has turned her back on the promise we made Gabriel when he was just a twelve-year-old boy and insisted that he continue to serve her then I will let him explain his case as to why he should be freed," he said to open up the meeting.

"Well, (in case none of you remember) he betrayed my trust a year ago when he tried to turn his back against his promise to take revenge against the Titan. He called it carving out a normal life for himself and letting go of the one thing that kept him going for five years. May I add that he was under _my _service when he came to this decision to rebel against me and forget everything he had promised to do? On top of that, he managed to slip away from my grasp for four months before I found him and was forced to resort to coercion and threats to bring him back to service.

"I felt betrayed then and I still feel betrayed now by his actions against me. There is not a thing in the world that could make me care about Eos', Helios', Selene's, or Hestia's opinions of how I am treating him for he rightfully deserves it," she explained. "We have heard from Hera, now let us hear from our mortal half-brother Gabriel," Zeus said. "My lord Zeus, I will not even deny that I had betrayed Hera but as we all know, Hera has a big problem with accepting small requests so I could not even ask her for at least a temporary reprieve.

"I will also confirm that I tried to carve out a normal life for myself in the hopes of avoiding going insane with the desire for revenge in my heart. It began when I was on a mission in Tibet and a priest looked into my soul, seeing it for what it really was: a scarred thing that refused to let its wounds heal, taking satisfaction in destroying the cause of the wound. For too long, I had been fighting fire with fire when I had the chance to fight it with water so I tried to find peace in Turkey after I had completed my mission in the ruins of Troy. And for the first time in my life, I knew love but more importantly I knew peace from all the insanity and war going on in my life.

"At this point, I would like to deny that Hera was forced to resort to coercion and threats because it was a situation where she could very easily have just asked me if I wish to return to service. She had no more missions for me after I recovered the armor in Troy so I took a vacation as a result thus starting this whole mess. Instead of having been forced to resort to coercion, she immediately went to it and gave me a choice. First, I could leave the woman I loved, return to service, and be forgiven of my crime against her or I could refuse and be forced to kill her before living a life of misery that followed me even into death, casting my soul into Tartarus.

"Because I loved my ex-wife (I married young as was wanted in Turkey), I left her with tears escaping my eyes and I returned to service again. At first, I thought I was just making up the four months then serving the final eight months of my five-year service. Instead, I found myself in a bondage that extended past my oath but never once did I complain nor speak out because I realized that when I had betrayed Hera, I had betrayed myself as well as the woman I loved. Though I still love her, I doubt she has continued waiting for me thanks to Hera holding me in this bondage that puts me five months overdue to end my service.

"However, I should thank Hera because I found out my true family in the other four gods I served. I found a father in Helios while under his service, a mother in Hestia while under hers, sisters in Eos and Selene while under their service. Strike me down for saying this if you wish but I do not care: I found more of a family in those four gods than in the rest of the Olympians combined," Gabriel spoke, unafraid and calm. My dad hesitated to continue, taking in the full impact of the last comment Gabriel mentioned more than anything else but taking the whole speech well.

"Eos, Selene, Helios, Hestia, what do you four think of what this mortal has said?" he asked after a moment. Eos spoke first but what she had to say amazed me because of its bravery. "I too loved him as more than just servant, I loved him as brother like Helios but for a while, I think I loved him romantically as well. If he had not been under my service, I would have made him immortal and been married to him for eternity," Eos said, a tear rolling down her cheek from remembering the happiness he brought her.

Helios spoke next after wiping the tear from his sister's face and having Selene sooth her. "My lord, I loved him as a little brother as he loved me as an older brother. Call me a fool but never has anyone warmed my heart like he has since Phaethon was alive," Helios said. Then it was Selene who said that she also loved Gabriel as a brother and begged him to be released.

"He is far overdue for a reprieve from serving the gods against his will. I beg you Zeus, since I too ask for so little, to judge wisely and release him from service," Helios said. Lastly, there was Hestia and she had the finest speech in his defense of all the rest. "I have asked nothing of Olympus in all of my years as the goddess who protects the very flames of Olympus themselves.

"When Gabriel came to me to serve me, I immediately saw the makings of the greatest demigod champion there ever was. While under my wing, he was taught to do what he thought was right even if it wasn't always what was necessary. He became like a son to me and I believe I have learned what it means to be a mother through him. I have not asked for anything since the day I was born so I will make this one request: spare him punishment for doing what he felt was right," she said with humility and a mother's love in her voice.

After pondering what to do for while, my dad was quick to make a decision. "Because Hera has violated an agreement made by her and four other gods and because this quest for vengeance was more the mortal's _choice _than his vow, I deem him innocent of any crimes against Olympus and release him from our service. What he does for us from here shall be his own choice," he declared. All four of the gods who defended Gabriel rushed to hug him and all of Olympus applauded in honor of my father's benevolence.

"Congratulations Gabriel, I hope I get something like that someday," I whispered before trying to make my exit. But quicker than I could reach the door, I felt one of my father's strong hands gently come down on my shoulder. "May I speak with you before you leave daughter?" he asked. I turned around and asked him what he wanted to say to me that would be important.

"When I saw you for the first time and had named you, I saw the makings of the greatest demigod I had ever helped conceive. Believe me when I say that I would have loved to stay with you and see you grow up and believe me when I say that I wish I had been there for you," he answered. I took what he had just said to heart and I realized that in some small way, I had always had him beside me. "You were always there for me dad, in here," I replied, pointing to my heart.

"I turned you into a pine tree to protect you and to allow you an opportunity to play a big role for the Camp. Pity was not the only thing that made me do it nor were those things. There is so much to talk about but not enough time so I should just get this off my chest: can you forgive me ever having done you wrong? My mistake with Hercules, the twins Castor and Pollux, Clytemnestra, and Helen was that I was not there for them nor was I even a part of their lives.

"I don't want it to be the same with you nor did I want it to be that way with Perseus. Can you ever forgive me for making you doubt me or making you like I had deserted you?" he asked. I answered with a nod and hugged my father, having at last come to understand that he did love me and would have given up everything for me if he only could. "I will continue to make you proud dad, you can be sure of that," I said.

After Gabriel returned from talking with four of his Special Five and making Hera apologize in front of him, we returned to Earth and were taken back to Camp by Hermes. This day was one I would never forget but before we left, I asked my father if it was possible to find out where Prometheus was as well as the other Titans. "If there is anyone who would know better than me, it would be Hades. He sees what I cannot and knows what I do not," my dad answered.

Along the way back to Earth, I told Gabriel what my father had told me. When he figured out that he was going to have to visit Hades, his response was like that of a general. "I'm not surprised that Hades would know these things because anytime you hide yourself from sky gods, you expose yourself to the gods of the earth," he said. "Then Nico will be taking you to the Underworld to find out what you can about Prometheus' present status?" I asked and he answered with a nod.

"I think I'm going to check on my Hunters when we return to camp. I will see if they're ready to move out; might even help you if I told then to," I said. "Thanks for that offer but I wouldn't push it on them. Even if they recover from their physical injuries, they'll wanna get back at me for injuring their pride," Gabe said.

"Not if I told them to forget their grievances against you and fight besides us," I told him. "Even if they swear to fight alongside me, at least one of them will be secretly conspiring to avenge the pride of the Hunters. Artemis' group is found solely on the belief that men cannot do nearly half as good in anything as women can. Okay, so men are not good at just attempting suicide as many times as women are," he replied.

"Women attempt suicide more than men do?" I asked. "In just America, women are four times more likely to attempt suicide but a man is four times more likely to actually commit the deed but that's a little beside the point," Gabe answered. That was a statistic that I had never thought about and it showed me something: men had their imperfections but Artemis was wrong that they were the worst creatures on the planet. "Then what point are you trying to make?" I inquired, hoping to settle his opinion of Artemis once and for all.

"While Artemis has the kind of tempered and disciplined character that I think my sisters Demeter and Hera need, she uses it for the wrong reasons. Her chastity is admirable but it's not always the best thing for every single girl who joins her. What about you, do you think you can remain chaste forever or avoid _some _minor form of pleasure with a man? Do you think you can avoid desiring to be with a man forever because that's the biggest thing about girls: they are inevitably tempted by the charms of men but it's also vice versa," Gabe explained.

That made sense and now I understood why I had that warm feeling when I first met him. I understood now that to an extent, it was both love and pity for him. The truth was, it was too hard to explain it to him without revealing this developing malcontent with life as a Hunter of Artemis. We arrived at Camp and I went with my Hunters while Gabe did not even wait a moment to find Nico and have him take him to the Underworld. Luckily, I had the chance to say goodbye before they went but that's all we had time for since they were soon on their way after I said goodbye to them without revealing myself.


	10. Nico: Bringing my new friend to Hades

Nico:

Bringing my new friend to the Underworld for business

I was glad I had apologized to Gabriel before being allowed to work with him. C'mon, I tried to blast him away with a cannon usually outfitted on a US battleship for crying out loud. I was also glad that Percy let me borrow Mrs. O'Leary before we left to go to the Underworld since shadow-traveling was the fastest way to reach it. We arrived to the Central Park entrance in a matter of seconds and soon, we were descending down to my father's realm again.

Charon let us on for free since he already knew we were on a business trip to the Underworld. Plus there was the fact (according to Charon) that when Gabriel was last in the Underworld, things had not gone well between the two of them. We arrived at my father's Palace after a little while on the River Styx and it was a good thing it didn't take long considering the pollution in the river. "Talk about a need for recycling," Gabe joked on the way there.

I had a good laugh and so did Charon though his was a little more uneasy compared to mine. When we arrived, Cerberus allowed us through since the appointment with my Dad and Persephone was prearranged by Hermes. "So Gabe, how does it feel having my dad, Zeus, Poseidon, Chiron for half-brothers?" I asked. "When I first found out, I was thrilled at the idea that I was half-brother to the greatest of the Olympian gods but after a while, it didn't seem so fun," Gabe answered.

"What made it not so fun after the first while after you found out?" I inquired. "Well, I had to serve two of my sisters for a year each and believe me, you don't ever wanna be under the service of Hera when she's in a bad temper," Gabe explained. I was not surprised that he would say something like that because I knew Hera pretty well already. "She sounds a lot like how Persephone is around me whenever I appear in the Underworld," I said.

"Well, they are alike to some extent but I'd gamble on Persephone being more like Demeter and her father Zeus than Hera," Gabe replied. "Wait, Zeus is Persephone's daughter?" I asked. "Yeah, she's the lovechild of an affair between Zeus and Demeter out of the many affairs he had," Gabe answered. I guess that made sense but that sure did surprise me knowing that Persephone is one of Zeus' godly daughters.

"Why, they never told you about that when you returned from the Lotus Casino?" Gabe asked. I shook my head and said that I had never been told about that before or after the Lotus Casino. "I feel sorry for you bud but you're going to be learning a lot from me if you're going to be my coworker," Gabe said. "Believe me, I look forward to learning what you know as fast as possible so I can catch up with what happened in the seventy years between my entrance and my departure from the Lotus Casino," I replied.

My dad awaited us at the throne room of his realm and asked what might make a meeting necessary. "Brother Hades, we have reason to believe from investigation that Prometheus is leading a new regime of the Titans but has deeper plans than just bringing the Titans back together. We also have been led here because we (particularly myself) were informed that you would know where Prometheus would go to hide from us and why he would go there," Gabe explained. "I will help you in this little quest of yours but because I would sooner see the Titans wiped out than miss another dilemma in my family on Olympus," my dad replied with a smile.

"Then where is he and what does he intend to do?" I asked. "Centuries ago, after Hercules freed him, Prometheus came to me and asked me if it was possible to revive Ouranos, ancient god of the skies our brother. I told him that it was possible if you could find his soul deep in the bowels of Tartarus, deeper than where the Titans had been before their destruction three weeks ago. You see, Prometheus knows that the only way to resurrect Ouranos is to go to the Palace of Erebus and offer his soul to the primordial god of darkness himself," Hades answered.

"So he intends to resurrect Ouranos so that he can turn the powers of the sky against us in his fight to avenge our father Kronos. What a piece of crap and is there a way for us to reach the Palace of Erebus undetected?" Gabe asked. "I'm glad you asked that because no Olympian god or goddess is allowed to guide you to the Palace of Erebus. Only one of my souls who knows the way there can guide you there because dead souls are usually not detected until they reach the base of the Palace.

"Then that soul must return to me before being cast into oblivion. However, mortals (with demigods as the biggest gamble) can bypass the base of the Palace and reach the inside before Erebus moves to stop them," Hades answered. "And is there a soul of the dead who knows the way there?" I asked. "Two souls can guide you there since I ordered two souls to remember half of the path and reduce the risk of detection; one is already stationed halfway through the course to rendezvous with you," Hades answered.

"And who is the soul that will guide us through the first part?" Gabe asked. "Perhaps, to at least one of you, the name Bianca di Angelo comes to mind," Hades answered. My mouth in amazement as I realized that my sister would be guiding whoever goes with Gabe to the Palace of Erebus. "Nico, I don't want you going to the Palace of Erebus so your sister will guide you back here unless you choose to stay," my dad said.

"But why don't you want me going?" I asked. "My children share the powers of darkness with Erebus so if you went to confront him, you would die for sure if no one else did," my dad answered. That didn't make sense but I knew better than to argue with my dad on matters that he knew better than me on. Besides, I thought it better to stay and wait for some time to chat with Bianca after she guided Gabriel to the Palace of Erebus.

"So who will go with you, Gabriel?" I asked. "Well, Thalia is going to go with her Hunters to see what she can find out about anything Prometheus has done before this, Percy is too injured to be traveling again just yet, you can't go because your father forbids it so that leaves me with just Annabeth," Gabe answered. "I can go with Mrs. O'Leary and have her brought to the Underworld to join you on this final stage of the quest if you want," I suggested. "Splendid idea Nico, that way we don't have to wait too long for Annabeth to show up in the normal way," Bianca agreed.

I called for Mrs. O'Leary and rode on her back to Camp Half-Blood to pick up Annabeth. It was a little difficult finding her at first so I improvised on having Chiron send a Hermes kid to find her for me. When she met me at my cabin, I told her about what Gabriel needed her for and where they were going. She paled at the idea of going into the domain of the god of darkness himself but quickly changed her mind when I told her it was the only way to reach Prometheus and attempt to stop him from fulfilling his plan.

As soon as she agreed to come to the Underworld and join Gabe on the quest to the Palace of Erebus, we boarded Mrs. O'Leary's back once again and descended back into the Underworld. The good thing was that there was a shadow at my dad's palace so that way we would end up there rather than have to take a boat across the river Styx again. When we arrived, my Dad welcomed Annabeth and told her what she had to do if she was to reach the Palace of Erebus alive. "Look Annabeth, the only reason we're asking you to go with Gabe to the Palace of Erebus is because we found out what Prometheus intends to do," I said.

That got her excited at once and she demanded to know what we knew about Prometheus' intentions for humankind. "Okay, so remember Kronos' dad Ouranos? Our friend Prometheus intends to resurrect him and use his power to destroy us in a final battle for control over humanity. Now, the only way he can bring Ouranos back to life is if he takes the soul of Ouranos and bring it to the Palace of Erebus where the body is slowly piecing itself back together at," I explained.

"Have any of you ever heard of the Sky Sword?" my dad asked. I shook my head no and so did Annabeth but Gabriel nodded to our surprise. "The Sky Sword is the weapon that embodies all of the lethality of the skies themselves. Because Ouranos is the sky, only he can bring up the Sky Sword whether to aid himself like it did when he fought Kronos or to aid someone else like Prometheus intends to have him do," Gabriel added.

"So I take it that your guess is that Prometheus doesn't want Ouranos so much as the Sky Sword?" Persephone asked. Though we were not expecting her to say anything only because she hadn't said anything, Gabriel nodded. "But he doesn't need just Ouranos' soul to bring the sky god back to life and obtain the Sky Sword. He also needs the Black Sword of the Night with Ouranos' soul contained in it in order to bring him back to life," he added.

"The Black Sword of the Night?" Annabeth asked. "According to a legend that I was once told, the night goddess Nyx forged a sword called the Black Sword of the Night to bring some lethality to the powers of the Night. It is also said that Hephaestus aided in forging the sword although this is unlikely since it existed before Hephaestus was even born," Gabe answered. "So you were indeed not in the service of the Special Five for nothing," Hades said, teasing Gabriel.

With a smile, Gabriel nodded and suggested that we be going on our way to the Palace of Erebus. Bianca assured me that she would be back but I begged my dad to let me go with her so that we had more time to talk. "So how do we reach the halfway point in your ability to guide us if the five rivers of the Underworld block us off?" I heard Gabriel said in the distance. "First, we pay Charon to take us down the River Cocytus to where it ends on a shore of black sand," I heard Bianca answer before their voices faded from my hearing entirely.

"So dad, why would I be no match against Erebus if I ever had to fight him?" I asked my dad. "Because he can very easily strip of your powers and use them against you. It is the price I pay for sharing the realm with him as well as the god Tartarus," my dad answered. "Wait, there's a god named Tartarus?" I asked. "Yes, he is the reason I have the realm of the same name where evil souls and the Titans (formerly) resided," my dad answered.

"Tartarus and Erebus are two very powerful primordial deities. They are up there with Gaia and Ouranos and so is Nyx," Persephone said. I nodded my head in understanding but truthfully I was confused. Oh well, one more thing to do kill time here.


	11. Annabeth: Gabriel and I pay a visit

Annabeth:

Gabriel and I pay Prometheus and his friends a visit

By the time events began to unfold before us, we were already across the river Cocytus, which was like a horrific thrill ride gone wrong and had already past the shores of black sand. Bianca had reached the end of her ability to guide us at this point so she told us to keep on heading straight until we met up with another soul of the dead. At first, I thought we were going to be attacked by the Furies or whatever else resigned in the Underworld but at least Gabriel had his flashlight to keep the way safe for us. For three miles, we walked in almost pitch-black darkness with our light as the only defense against any creature of darkness that would have normally attacked us living mortal.

Then we saw a humanlike figure on the left of two massive boulders but Gabriel became frightened by the soul ahead of us. "What is it, is it someone you know?" I asked. "It's… it's… my wife Nadine from before Hera forced me back to service," he answered. I remembered him saying that he married young like most citizens of Turkey were required to do but I never believed that we would be meeting his wife here.

Before I could stop him though, he ran up to her like a madman and I had to keep up with him in order to avoid being kept out of the light. "Hey, wait for me!" I shouted. But Gabe would not wait for me and soon, he had his beloved Nadine clutched in his arms and spun around in a dance. "By the gods, how did you end up in here?" he asked.

"Seven months after you left me, I gave birth to your twin children: one son and one daughter. Our daughter died just after birth but I was killed in the process of bringing our son to life for the few minutes that he was alive himself. Perhaps you would like to meet them both someday when you return to us in Elysium?" Nadine answered. "I would love to meet our children when I return to you in the Afterlife but because I am eligible for godhood after death, I will see if I can become a god and bring you and our children with me," Gabriel replied.

"Do you wish to know the names they would have carried if they had survived birth?" Nadine asked. Gabriel nodded and was told that the son was named Mohammed and the daughter was named Mary after Gabe's mother. "Those are both beautiful names, I would love to see them with me on Mount Olympus when I become a god," Gabe said. "I would love to be up there with you but for now, let us focus on the mission at hand: guiding you to the Palace of Erebus and helping you stop Prometheus," Nadine said.

I was introduced to her by Gabriel and soon, we were on our way to the Palace of Erebus himself. It soon became clear to me how much the two of them missed each other from time Hera forced Gabriel to leave Nadine behind. While I held the flashlight and kept the way illuminated, they held arms around one another like she had never died or he had never left. Sometimes, Gabriel would led his hand slide across her rear then back up to her waist or even to her shoulder while she sometimes did the same to him.

It made me wonder if Percy had ever tried to do the same with me or if we should even have done anything like that. I shook my head at such a ridiculous idea but then it seemed to make sense to me at the same time. It definitely would have gotten my mom going about me and Percy staying away from each other for certain. But then I wondered if I really needed to irritate my Mom and probably start another fight between her and Poseidon when they were already trying to cool off from the feud for control of Athens.

"How much further before we reach the Palace?" I asked. "In mortal time it would be another half day of walking but since there is no time in the Underworld, I can tell you that we have another fifty-six miles at least," Nadine answered. So now I realized that we would need to walk for another half day in order to reach the Palace of Erebus and probably tolerate the romance between Gabriel and Nadine until it at least did not feel warm to Gabriel anymore. The reason I said that was because apparently Nadine had been brought back to life for this trip by permission of the Fates and would fade back into death until she was just a soul again.

That got me really excited for what would be happening during our travels here in the domain of darkness itself. I was beginning to become furious at myself because Percy and I could not do what Gabriel and Nadine were doing due to an arrow getting stuck in Percy's leg and taking him out of the fight until the quest was already over. Why did the soldiers of Prometheus have to get him with an arrow? And why in the name of all the gods could the Curse of Achilles not hurry his healing abilities along?

It was when we finally stopped that I got to know Nadine much better than I already had. Gabriel had taken sentry duty so that way we girls could have time to talk before the quest continued. I asked her about a few normal girl things like how long Nadine had dated Gabriel beforehand. "My parents were actually Turkish immigrants who followed Islamic traditions and had me marry Gabriel because of his wealth," she began.

"So you two basically got together because of an arranged marriage?" I asked. She nodded and added that my parents had heard about him and his successful business as an author. They had also heard about how his butler was his uncle's temporary (until Gabriel became of age unless he gave up his right to the business) successor at one of the wealthiest lawyer industries in all of Southern California. "Because of this, my parents decided it was best for me to get married to Gabriel so that I would not suffer he same fate as the rest of our family," she added.

"So what did you do to make sure that Gabriel was the right man for you?" I asked. "I warmed up to him without my parents knowing by befriending him and getting to know him better. Then I realized that maybe it would be a good idea to share at least some of life with him and if it didn't work out, at least we were in America so we could divorce," Nadine answered. "But what about what he had been saying about his status as a citizen of Turkey?" I inquired.

"He likes saying that because he felt more at home in Turkey than he did in America," Nadine assured me. We had a good laugh out of that and Gabriel was none the wiser about it. He did not even turn around to ask us what we were laughing about but kept vigilant for us. "So did you really, honestly love him from the bottom of your heart?" I asked her.

She nodded and said that she had gladly given her life for him in the name of raising his children. After that talk, we slept for the night and resumed our journey in what was the morning in the world above us. We arrived at the Palace in a few hours but Nadine had become so faint by then that we could barely see her like Hades promised. "Now I am at the end of my ability to guide and protect you from the terrors of the darkness that surrounds you," Nadine said.

"I hope to see you again really soon Nadine. I love you and tell the kids that I love them, okay?" Gabriel said. "Gabriel, I assure you that I will tell them that you love them as much as they love you," Nadine replied. She faded completely after saying that and Gabriel vowed that he would avenge her death and the death of every family member that he had once had before Prometheus destroyed them.

Gabriel and I then descended up the stairs that led to the very gates of Erebus' domain itself. The gates opened automatically for us and a voice told us to come in at our peril. "Let your Titan relatives be the judge of how much peril we are in," Gabriel replied. I said nothing because I didn't know what to say nor if anything would be wise on my part.

I think it turned out for the better that I didn't say anything because soon after, we were going across winding corridors, near-infinite hallways, and dodging many traps until we came at last to the altar where Prometheus was bringing back the late Ouranos. The voice of his chant filled the room and that was the only way we knew our way to him: by the sound of his voice getting louder and louder. Our flashlight had lost all power by this time so we really on sound as well as old-fashioned torches made from when we found wooden stakes as well as cloths and matches. The voice grew louder and louder until at last, we could hear him chanting loud and clear the words necessary to bring back the sky god.

"Oh mighty lord of the skies, father of the Titans and grandfather of myself, Atlas, and Epimetheus! We use the powers of the Black Sword of the Night as well as your soul to piece your body back together and unleash your powers upon our enemies. Come back to us Ouranos and aid us in destroying the accursed Olympians and taking back what is rightfully ours! Arise in the name of all that is just and true, arise and avenge your defeat by the hands of Kronos!" Prometheus shouted clearly.

Epimetheus spotted us and called out to his brother that we were here. "Ah Gabriel Johnson, son of Kronos and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena! I knew you would come for I had foreseen it. Welcome to your doom as you two shall be the first to witness the return of the true sky god and the revenge of the Titans," Prometheus said.

"We're here to stop you Prometheus, once and for all!" I shouted. "Atlas, Epimetheus, I think you both know what to do," Prometheus said. "Hey before we 'die', how the hell did you free Atlas?" Gabriel asked. "Well, I solved that problem with a Titan who was willing to trade places in the name of our cause. Does the name Perses ring a bell to either of you?" Prometheus answered.

"Isn't that the Titan of destruction?" I asked. "That's right, smart girl. Perses was a raw force that I could not contain so I tricked him into holding up the skies in Atlas' place and that is where we have left him. Enough talk, brothers destroy them!" Prometheus answered.

"I'll take Atlas, you handle Epimetheus. Make him swing his spear or jab at you and miss, he'll eventually tire," Gabriel told me. That was good to know considering that his attacks were mostly heavy and each stroke was meant to take a severe impact on me if they didn't miss me. "A child of Athena shall be a worthy addition to my collection of victims," Epimetheus told me.

"What do you intended to do, use me as your slave or something?" I asked. "If you hold still, I intend to just take your head," he answered. Now my head on a pike brought back to camp would definitely not be a pretty sight so I did my best to dodge his attacks, blocking the lights stabs with my knife and dodging the long, wide strokes he sometimes used. But just when I was about to move in to make a decisive blow after he wore out (which took forever by the way) Prometheus had successfully pieced together Ouranos and granted him new life.

He looked around the room wildly and began to shout out curses in Greek until he actually caught up with speaking English. "Where is Kronos, how dare he humiliate me in front of all my universe! And who are you, you're not just a human so don't introduce yourself as an immortal?" Ouranos boomed to Prometheus. "Lord Ouranos, I am your grandson Prometheus by Iapetus and these are my brothers Atlas and Epimetheus.

"I breathed life into you because I need your Sky Sword as well as you to help me avenge the Titans who sided with you against Kronos! Because of the current rulers, those usurping Olympians, the Titans are all but extinct save myself, my brothers, one Titan taking Atlas' place at separating your domain from the Earth, and our regenerating army," Prometheus explained. "Is Kronos dead?" Ouranos asked. "He was killed by a demigod named Percy Jackson three weeks ago however, there are two descendants of Kronos right here for you to start your quest for revenge with," Prometheus answered.

"I sense the power within the boy, who sired him?" Ouranos asked, inquiring into Gabriel's lineage. "Oh, wise choice grandfather because his father is none other than your treacherous son Kronos. The other one is a daughter of Kronos' granddaughter Athena, present goddess of wisdom," Prometheus answered with a smile. "Indeed, this is a good start in my quest for revenge that will encompass the deaths of every single living descendant of my son Kronos!" Ouranos agreed, laughing wickedly.

"Annabeth, we have to leave and we have to leave now!" Gabriel whispered to me. "We can take him now, even after having his soul remerged into his body he's still not at full power," I whispered back. "Don't be a fool he has all the advantages over us and because we don't have the element of surprise anymore, he'll destroy us," Gabriel replied. But just after he had said that, a figure that was pitch black from head to toe except for sea green eyes appeared and stood between us and Ouranos.

"What are you doing, you fool? You dare interfere with my vengeance brother!" Ouranos shouted. "Careful who you speak to Ouranos, you are in my domain now and it is my command that you and your new friends leave my Palace. Prometheus promised that he would only be here to resurrect you, not sacrifice demigods to you," the figure calmly said.

Ouranos left storming while Prometheus and his brothers followed. "We are in your debt, oh mighty black god of darkness," Gabriel said. "No, it is I who was indebted to you Gabriel Johnson. I have just simply returned the favor you did me after pondering how I may do so," the figure replied.

"Are you Erebus, god of primeval darkness and the ruler of this palace?" I asked. "I am Erebus and you are Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and granddaughter of the noble Zeus. Come with me and I will return you two back to your Camp Half-Blood through Shadow-travel," Erebus answered. "Am I indebted to you now, Erebus?" I asked.

"Only if you and I both wish for you to be indebted and I do not wish for you to tire yourself over repaying me. Come, there is little time and you must warn your camp of the stand it must take in order to avoid being destroyed," Erebus told me. I grabbed one of his extended hands and so did Gabriel but after that, I saw nothing. Nothing except and then the middle of the camp's dining pavilion where it would be quickest to reach Chiron.


	12. Percy: Review of this weekbattle plans

Percy:

Talking with my old friends and the new one about this past week and finalizing plans

Just after my leg had recovered enough for me to be able to walk long distances again, I got a report that Annabeth and Gabriel had returned from their mission. Chiron and Mr. D wanted me present for the elaboration that my girlfriend and our new friend had to give us. "Annabeth Chase and Gabriel Johnson had risked life and limb to present us with this completed investigation of the activities of the Titans, will one of you begin?" Chiron said, opening up the meeting that featured every Cabin leader possible, including Nico and Thalia.

"I will start since I was probably the one who caused it by failing to stop Prometheus first," Gabriel said. Annabeth assured him he had not caused the events of their trip to happen the way they did. Still, he insisted on being the one to tell since he could explain it better and understood more about what went on then she did. She agreed to that since, as I would later find out, she really did not understand as much as he did on what happen.

"After an investigation in the Underworld, we have at last found out what keeps the Titans going even with the death of Kronos. Prometheus, benefactor of mankind and the giver of fire, has succeeded Kronos as leader of the Titans and awakened a power more ancient and more threatening to us than Kronos. He has revived the sky god Ouranos using the powers of Nyx's Black Sword of the Night and with it, plunging the soul of Ouranos back into the god's body. This wouldn't be bad if in addition to Ouranos revived at the cost of the powers of the Black Sword of the Night, Ouranos also has agreed to locate and recover the Sky Sword for the cause of Prometheus and the remaining Titans.

"For those of you who do not know, the Sky Sword is the sword that embodies all of the powers of the skies and gives the one who wields it power to manipulate the winds, lightning, thunder, and other related elements. The worst thing is, this manipulation of the sky would render Zeus powerless to help us if the wielder wished it so. Prometheus has told him to start his campaign of revenge by destroying the demigods of Camp Half-Blood and there is no doubt in mind that no matter what Ouranos thinks, Prometheus is the one truly in charge of all this," Gabriel explained.

"May I interject by saying that we only survived because Erebus, god of darkness came to our rescue before the enemy could have their way with us? We must gather every demigod we have, every weapon we have, every asset we have, and prepare to wage war with Ouranos and his Titan 'allies' as soon as possible," Annabeth said. "I agree, we must be ready to fight for the Camp as soon as possible," Nico said. Chiron stopped us all before we got too far into our chats on how to prepare for war.

"I admire the excitement everyone has about this idea however, we must see if we can move against them first rather than let them come to us," Chiron said. "How do you know we won't be walking into a trap?" I asked. "That's what we have Nico's ability to summon the souls of the dead for. And that's what we also have Briares for," Chiron answered.

"So what would be the strategy then?" Nico asked. Chiron made to speak but because Annabeth was a child of Athena and figured it out faster than Chiron did, she spoke for him. "The strategy is to see if we can destroy Ouranos and steal away the Sky Sword first. Destroy Ouranos then sit back and wait to see if Prometheus will proceed with retaliation against the camp, right Chiron?" Annabeth said. Chiron nodded and added that the sooner we could remove Ouranos and hopefully obtain the Sky Sword, the better the chance we could stand against Prometheus' hordes when and if they decided to show to Camp Half-Blood.

"I would like four demigods to lead this attack and because we need Nico to get our army, he is already signed up. Who will go with him and who will stay here to help prepare for the battle that is sure to come in the event of their failure?" Chiron asked. I immediately jumped at this and said that I would since I knew my leg would be ready in time to join them for the travel to wherever we needed to go. "That's one who else will join?" Chiron asked.

Gabriel answered since he knew that in order for us to defeat Ouranos, we would need the best of Camp Half-Blood. And as if agreeing with him, Thalia also volunteered to go on board for the joyride of going on a quest to destroy Ouranos. "In their absence, I will stay and help Chiron and Mr. D prepare the rest of us for the battle that is sure to come whether they succeed or not," Annabeth added. "Then it is decided, Annabeth will stay here and draw battle plans while our four most powerful demigods go to aid in buying us time to prepare for Prometheus' attack.

"Now they just need the prophecy from the Oracle before they make their next move," Mr. D said. Now that was the part I did not like the most about any of these quests, usually. You see, before the crisis with Gabriel's dad Kronos ended, our Oracle was an undead zombie who sometimes came to life and uttered prophesies. Now, that zombie was replaced by the living, beautiful Rachel Elizabeth Dare who took on the spirit of the Oracle after Hades lifted the curse that kept the zombie going.

There was only the fact that the attic was still creepy for the most part, at least, when I last checked. To my surprise and utter delight, it was amazing what she had done with the place in her spare time from uttering incantations and she had even organized all the artifacts we had from A to Z. "Hey Rachel, how are you doing?" I asked. She answered that she was doing very well and asked to know who Gabriel was.

"This is Gabriel Johnson, demigod son of Kronos and a former servant of the gods of Olympus before coming here," Annabeth answered. Rachel took a moment to see if she felt anything since the Oracle's spirit came and went in her. We knew that she connected when her eyes began to change and she looked like she was experiencing a seizure. Wisely, we stood our ground as she uttered the number one prophecy of the day and probably the best one we had had since she uttered the new Great Prophecy three weeks ago.

"_Four demigods must travel to the ruins of the Old Titan's rule_

_Consult with darkness or be forever destroyed on that day_

_When the son of Kronos charges in to face the wrath_

_Of the Sky King or himself!" _

I grabbed her and kept her from hitting her head on the ground until she was all right again. "Thank you Percy, I'm still having trouble getting used to the spirit of the Oracle residing in my body," Rachel said. I told her she was welcome and Gabriel suggested that we leave now. Since we had gotten our prophecy, we agreed to discuss it over dinner before making a move since it was almost time to have dinner at the dining pavilion.

Chiron gave us permission to use Zeus' table for business since this was important and we gathered after making our offers to the gods. My first guess was immediately the same as everybody everyone else's about the last line. "So the last line of the prophecy means that Gabriel is destined to duel with Ouranos unless Prometheus shows up and chooses to fight him instead, right?" I asked. Everyone agreed about that and said that it sounded reasonable considering that it did say that the son of Kronos must face either Ouranos' wrath or himself.

"But that line: _Consult with darkness or be forever destroyed_. That's the one that gets me the most," Nico said. "If I am not mistaken, we are to consult Erebus the god of darkness itself about something. As to what we're to consult him about, I truly don't know," Thalia said.

"Does the first line come to mind for anybody at this point? We know the rest but here's my suggestion: why not consult Erebus about an answer to the first line?" Gabriel suggested. "We already know that we are supposed to go to the 'Old Titan's ruin' but that could mean a lot of things," Nico agreed. "Perhaps an Iris message to Erebus would work?" I asked.

"Erebus only answers those if he wants to and he seldom ever answers the messages of anyone living above his realm. But there is a chance he will listen to me this time like he has before," Gabriel answered. "So how about we wait until the sun sets then move out of all possible light and use an Iris message to bring him up from his palace?" Thalia asked. "That's a risky move but my father would agree that it would be a necessary one," Nico answered.

"Let's meet at Zeus' Fist as soon as the sun sets then call him over. One of us has to remember to take a portable source of light with us until he agrees to come up and speak to us so we can make the Iris message possible," Gabriel said. We all nodded and agreed to do it with Thalia volunteering to make some lightning happen long enough for the Iris message to be sent. Then, to break the tension, I asked what everyone thought of this past week.

"Let me put it this way: it was mild before the rumors of Gabriel's existent really took form and substance," Thalia said. "I was having fun playing _Pente_ with my dad when I was called into action," Nico said with some witty humor. We all had a good laugh out of that even Gabriel smiled, which was a sight I had never seen before. "A smile, we've never seen that on you since you've been here," Thalia said.

"Until I was absolved of my crime against Hera and released from her service, I had not smiled in at least a year. This is the second time in a year that I've smiled had a reason to smile and the first time in year to even chuckle," Gabriel replied. That was something I never heard of: how could you not have a reason to smile for almost a year at all? I had to put that question aside as sunset was coming fast and I had to get the water gun I had been given for Iris messages out.

Nico had a golden coin to throw in and Gabriel would deliver the message so we all played a part in deliver the message to Erebus. "Oh rainbow goddess, accept our offering. Show us Erebus, god of darkness itself," Gabriel said after taking Nico's coin and tossed it into the rainbow. At first, it looked as though nothing was happening but then we made contact with Erebus.

"Ah Gabriel, what can I do for you?" Erebus asked when he saw Gabriel's face. "I need some help from you, hopefully something you know is what we need to know before Ouranos and Prometheus attack," Gabriel answered. "Why not just ask me the question over the Iris message?" Erebus inquired. "So you know that I would like you to come to Camp Half-Blood for a bit?" Gabriel asked, surprised by Erebus' awareness of what he wanted.

"Yes I know and that's why I asked why you want me to talk to you in person if you're already talking to me in an Iris message," Erebus told him. "Well, we are not exactly sure we can trust the Iris message to not be intercepted by Prometheus. That's the only reason, otherwise I would ask my question over this," Gabriel said. "Please wait a moment until you're surrounded by blue fire, when that happens then you'll know I'm here," Erebus replied.

We nodded and made sure to take have Thalia turn off the lightning she had been using to light up the Iris message and I stopped the squirt gun. We waited a little bit then, as promised, we were surrounded by blue fire and Erebus stepped in right in front of us. Now I have to admit, he came across as probably the most intimidating sight to look at that I had ever seen. Imagine the devil with skin black as night from head to toe with equally black horns, no wings, and massive horns because that's when you have Erebus.

Oh and might I add that you could see his entire skeleton from head to toe? That's right, he barely had enough skin to cover his bones whose shapes were already exposed to us. He looked so fragile and yet he was so tall that even Gabriel (who is the tallest by a few inches at 6'1) had to look up to him. "Now that we are out of the untrustworthy system of the Iris message, what is your question my friend?" Erebus asked.

"We have consulted the Oracle for our prophecy and we have already figured out all but the first line to it. It goes like this: _Four demigods must travel to the ruins of the Old Titan's rule_. We were wondering what that could mean and were wondering if you knew," Gabriel explained. "Tell me the rest of the prophecy so that I may know how best to help you," Erebus said.

Gabriel did and then Erebus asked us a relatively simple question. "Tell me, what is the name of your father's realm? It was the place where the Titans ruled mankind from high above before Olympus was formed," he asked. Then we knew we had it: Orthys, the Black Throne of Mount Orthys.

The prophecy said to go to the ruins of the Kronos' throne on Mount Orthys! We thanked him because we knew at once where to go to fight Ouranos and Prometheus. He disappeared and took the blue fire with him without even damaging a single speck of land around the Zeus' Fist and we went to find Chiron. "What are you children doing up past the curfew, I know you're the leaders of the war against Prometheus and Ouranos after me but even you need rest?" Chiron asked, grouchy as can be.

"Chiron, my dear brother, we don't care about that right because guess what? We have our heading to where we're supposed to go and launch the attack," Gabriel answered. Chiron asked where and we watched as he reacted to the name Gabriel uttered from his mouth. "Mount Orthys!" he proudly declared to his three thousand year old half-brother.

To Be Continued…


End file.
